Patterns of ambulatory blood pressure: clinical relevance and application

Ambulatory blood pressure measurement (ABPM) is now recommended in all patients suspected of having hypertension. However, in practice, the mean daytime pressures are often used to make diagnostic and therapeutic decisions, and the information from abnormal patterns of blood pressure behavior is often overlooked. This paper presents daytime patterns (eg, white coat hypertension and siesta dipping), nocturnal patterns (eg, dipping, non-dipping, reverse dipping, and the morning surge), and discusses ambulatory hypotension, and abnormal patterns and indices of related hemodynamic parameters (eg, heart rate, pulse pressure, and blood pressure variability).