Camerano study on hypertension: the problem of blood pressure variability during medical visit

The Camerano Study on Arterial Hypertension (AH) is a cross-sectional study, carried out on a wide population sample in a small town in Central Italy, and aimed at revealing the prevalence of certain characteristics of AH in the population examined. In particular, we studied some aspects of blood pressure (BP) levels during the medical visits. To evaluate the effects of the medical visit on BP levels, we divided the subjects into 3 groups: I) Hypertensive subjects, II) Treated hypertensive subjects, III) Normotensive subjects (control group). The Systolic Arterial Pressure (SAP) in normotensive subjects reached maximum levels during the first medical visit and then decreased in the following two controls (p < 0.001). The Diastolic Arterial Pressure (DAP) did not show any significant changes during the three measurements (p = n.s.). Instead the maximum level of SAP in the hypertensive group did not appear at the first measurement but only after 5 minutes and was seen to decrease towards the end of the visit (p < 0.001). Even DAP showed different levels compared to the normotensives: a decrease in BP levels was registered after 15 minutes respect to earlier measurements (p < 0.01). The levels of group II were similar to those of normotensive subjects.