Relationship between blood pressure variability and target organ damage in elderly patients

To investigate the relationship between 24 h systolic blood pressure variability (SBPV) and target organ damage in elderly patients with essential hypertension.

180 elderly patients (≥ 80 y) with hypertension admitted to our hospital from January 2015 to January 2017 were selected as hypertension group and divided into high blood pressure variability (BPV) group and low BPV group according to the 50th percentile (P50) of 24 h SBPV, while 90 elderly non-hypertension patients admitted during the same period were enrolled as control group. 24 h ambulatory blood pressure values of patients in the three groups were recorded. The total cholesterol (TC), left ventricular mass index (LVMI), carotid artery intima-media thickness (IMT), 24 h microalbuminuria (MA) and complications with cardiovascular disease in patients of the three groups were compared and analyzed. Logistic analysis was conducted with MA, IMT and LVMI as the dependent variables and the remaining risk factors as the independent variables.

24 h SBPV and daytime SBPV (d SBPV) in patients of the hypertension group were significantly higher than those in the control group (p < 0.01); the incidences of coronary heart disease and atherosclerotic plaque as well as IMT, LVMI and MA were higher in the high BPV group than those in the low BPV group (p < 0.05 or p < 0.01). The multivariate results showed that 24 h SBPV was associated with IMT, LVMI and MA.

BPV can serve as an important indicator to predict target organ damage in elderly patients with essential hypertension. 24 h SBPV can reflect the degree of target organ damage in elderly hypertensive patients.