Related Experiment Videos
Variability of arterial blood pressure in normal and hypertensive pregnancy
1Department of Obstetrics, Free University of Berlin, Germany.
In normal pregnancy the circadian blood pressure rhythm is similar to that in the non-pregnant state, with the highest blood pressure values in the morning and the lowest at midnight. This rhythm is lost in patients with pre-eclampsia. Women with severe pre-eclampsia show a reversed circadian rhythm, with a nocturnal increase in blood pressure during the sleeping phase. Although the reasons for this nocturnal hypertension in severe pre-eclampsia are poorly understood, the results suggest that pre-eclamptic women are endangered by hypertensive emergencies, mostly at night. Therefore blood pressure measurement should be extended to the night, and antihypertensive treatment must be adapted to the demands of a reversed circadian rhythm in relevant subgroups of patients.
In normal pregnancy the circadian blood pressure rhythm is similar to that in the non-pregnant state, with the highest blood pressure values in the morning and the lowest at midnight. This rhythm is lost in patients with pre-eclampsia. Women with severe pre-eclampsia show a reversed circadian rhythm, with a nocturnal increase in blood pressure during the sleeping phase. Although the reasons for this nocturnal hypertension in severe pre-eclampsia are poorly understood, the results suggest that pre-eclamptic women are endangered by hypertensive emergencies, mostly at night. Therefore blood pressure measurement should be extended to the night, and antihypertensive treatment must be adapted to the demands of a reversed circadian rhythm in relevant subgroups of patients.