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Evaluation of hypertension and related target organ damage by average day-time blood pressure
Insights
Ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) better predicts hypertensive target organ damage than casual blood pressure (BP) readings. BP variability and high peaks also significantly contribute to cardiovascular complications.
Area of Science:
- Cardiology
- Hypertension Research
- Clinical Medicine
Background:
- Casual blood pressure (BP) measurements may not accurately reflect a hypertensive patient's usual BP.
- Hypertension is a major risk factor for target organ damage and cardiovascular complications.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare the correlation between continuously recorded average blood pressure and casual blood pressure with target organ damage in hypertensive patients.
- To investigate the role of blood pressure variability and pressure peaks in the severity of cardiovascular complications.
Main Methods:
- The study included 102 hypertensive patients with varying degrees of hypertension (borderline, moderate, severe).
- Continuous ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) was used to record BP throughout the day.
- Casual BP measurements were taken for comparison.
Main Results:
- Ambulatory blood pressure showed a closer correlation with target organ damage than casual BP.
- Higher blood pressure variability and higher pressure peaks were associated with greater cardiovascular complication severity, even with similar average daytime pressures.
Conclusions:
- Ambulatory blood pressure monitoring is a more reliable indicator of target organ damage in hypertension than casual BP.
- Blood pressure variability and peaks are crucial factors contributing to cardiovascular complications in hypertensive individuals.
- These findings have implications for evaluating the efficacy of antihypertensive drug therapies.
Abstract:
Aim of the present study was to verify whether average blood pressure continuously recorded throughout the day correlates with the degree of target organ damage more closely than casual pressure in hypertensive patients. The study was conducted in 102 subjects with borderline, moderate and severe hypertension. Our results confirm a closer relationship between cardiovascular complications and recorder blood pressure than casual pressure possibly because the latter less perfectly reflects the patients usual pressures which are generally lower. However our results further demonstrate that blood pressure variability also contributes to the degree of target organ damage since for equal average day-time pressures a greater severity of cardiovascular complications was observed in patients with the highest blood pressure variability and the highest peaks of pressure. These findings should be carefully considered when evaluating the effect of antihypertensive drugs.