Ambulatory blood pressure monitoring in physicians working in a hospital: is there an increase in the number of subjects with high workplace blood pressures?

Abstract

Sixty-two physicians from our hospital who were normotensives, as supported by casual blood pressure measurements, underwent 24-h blood pressure monitoring which included their normal work, home rest and sleep periods. During working hours, 19% of the subjects showed mean diastolic and/or diastolic plus systolic blood pressures higher than those admitted as normal by the WHO for casual measurements for out of work subjects. Both mean systolic and diastolic blood pressure measurements, during the work at the hospital, were significantly higher in males ( P < 0.01 and P < 0.005, respectively) than the mean of the readings obtained during the 24-h period, but this phenomenon did not occur among the females. Male's mean systolic (129.8 ± 10.6 vs. 117.1 ± 9.7 mmHg, P < 0.0001) and diastolic pressures (83.4 ± 8 vs. 74.9 ± 7.3 mmHg, P < 0.001) were significantly higher during the working period in relation to those of the female group. Discussing the influence of the kind of work on blood pressure, we came to the conclusion of the existence in our environment of a group of subjects (generally males), presenting high blood pressure values during their working period at the hospital and normal or borderline values during the rest of the day. This should be of interest, since it has been reported that subjects with high workplace blood pressure have an increased risk of hypertension and target-organ damage.