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Blood pressure variability and prognosis in uncomplicated mild hypertension

Sante D Pierdomenico1, Domenico Lapenna, Anna Bucci

  • 1Dipartimento di Medicina e Scienze dell'Invecchiamento, Università Gabriele d'Annunzio, Chieti, Italy. pierdomenico@unich.it

American Heart Journal
|May 17, 2005
PubMed

Insights

Blood pressure variability is not an independent predictor of cardiovascular events in mild hypertension. Other factors like age, systolic blood pressure, cholesterol, and smoking are more significant indicators of risk.

Area of Science:

  • Cardiology
  • Hypertension Research
  • Clinical Outcomes

Background:

  • The prognostic significance of blood pressure (BP) variability in essential hypertension, especially mild cases, remains unclear.
  • Noninvasive monitoring is used to assess BP variability.
  • Cardiovascular outcomes in uncomplicated mild hypertension patients require further investigation regarding BP variability.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the relationship between BP variability and cardiovascular outcomes in patients with uncomplicated mild hypertension.
  • To determine if BP variability is an independent predictor of cardiovascular events in this population.

Main Methods:

  • A cohort of 1088 patients with uncomplicated mild hypertension was studied.
  • Patients were categorized into low (n=626) and high (n=462) BP variability groups based on daytime systolic BP standard deviation.
  • Fatal and nonfatal cardiovascular events were tracked over a mean follow-up of 4.74 years.

Main Results:

  • Event rates per 100 patient-years were 0.72 for low BP variability and 1.5 for high BP variability.
  • Event-free survival differed significantly between groups (P = .01).
  • After multivariate adjustment, high BP variability was not an independent predictor; age, daytime systolic BP, LDL cholesterol, and smoking were independent predictors.

Conclusions:

  • Blood pressure variability, assessed by noninvasive monitoring, is not an independent predictor of cardiovascular outcomes in uncomplicated mild hypertension.
  • Traditional risk factors remain crucial for predicting cardiovascular events in this patient group.
Abstract

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