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Updated: Jul 10, 2026
Through-the-Wall Blood Sampling Method to Minimize Sleep Disruption in Clinical Settings
Published on: June 13, 2025
Effect of social support on nocturnal blood pressure dipping
Carlos J Rodriguez1, Matthew M Burg, Joyce Meng
1Division of Cardiology, Columbia University, 622 W 168th Street, PH 3-342, New York, NY 10032, USA. cjr10@columbia.edu
Objective:
To determine if nocturnal blood pressure (BP) dipping among non-Hispanic blacks is influenced by social support. Non-Hispanic blacks have higher rates of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality from hypertension and are more likely to have ambulatory blood pressure (ABP) that remains high at night (nondipping).
Methods:
A total of 68 non-Hispanic black normotensive and 13 untreated hypertensive participants (age 72 +/- 10 years, 48% female) free of clinical cardiovascular disease completed 24-hour ABP monitoring and a questionnaire that included a modified version of the CARDIA Study Social Support Scale (CSSS). Nondipping was defined as a decrease of <10% in the ratio between average awake and average asleep systolic BP. Analyses were adjusted for age, gender, and systolic BP.
Results:
The prevalence of nondipping was 26.8% in subjects in the highest CSSS tertile versus 41.1% in the lowest CSSS tertile (p = .009). On adjusted analysis, CSSS was analyzed as a continuous variable and remained independently and inversely associated with nondipping (odds ratio 0.27, 95% Confidence Interval 0.08-0.94, p = .04).
Conclusions:
Social support may be an important predictor of BP dipping at night. These findings suggest that social support may have positive health affects through physiologic (autonomic) pathways.
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