[Ambulatory blood pressure measurement: clinical significance and prognostic evaluation of nocturnal arterial hypertension]

Abstract

With the aim of determining the clinical and prognostic value of the onset of a cardiac and/or cerebral event and nocturnal hypertension, we retrospectively investigated 291 patients with essential hypertension by noninvasive ambulatory 24-hour blood pressure measurement. The patients were followed for 1809 +/- 107 days. During the follow-up period 21 patients suffered a nonfatal cardiovascular event. The patients experiencing this type of event showed a higher nocturnal systolic blood pressure and a smaller diurnal/nocturnal difference for systolic blood pressure values at diurnal blood pressure values comparable to those without a cardiovascular event. Patients with nocturnal hypertension, with or without inversion of the circadian rhythm, were statistically more likely to suffer a cardiovascular event than patients with a normal circadian profile. Our investigation revealed a certain prognostic value for nocturnal hypertension in the evaluation of essential hypertension, the prognosis being more favourable in hypertensive patients with a normal circadian profile.