Daily profiles of blood pressure in patients with arterial hypertension of various psychotypes

Abstract

Аim: to assess the influence of the patient's psychotype on the degree of nighttime reduction in blood pressure (BP) to determine predictors of an unfavorable daily BP profile.Materials and methods. The study involved 80 patients with newly diagnosed or untreated arterial hypertension (AH), with various stages, severity, risk of developing cardiovascular complications, in the absence of concomitant severe somatic pathology, who independently consulted a local therapist. All patients underwent 24-hour blood pressure monitoring in the absence of antihypertensive therapy and the psychological profile was assessed using the SMOL questionnaire.Results. The psychopathological profile of the examined AH patients corresponded to the social and psychological adaptation. Our analysis of the indices of the averaged profile of the SMOL test, depending on the degree of reduction in nocturnal systolic blood pressure (between dipper and non-dipper profiles) and diastolic blood pressure (between dipper, non-dipper and extreme dipper patterns profiles) did not reveal statistically significant differences (p > 0,05). Patients with a riser daily blood pressure profile, due to the small size of the group, were not included in the comparative analysis. The average profile of SMOL of the examined patients was noted by an increase in indicators on the scales 1 – hypochondria and 3 – emotional lability.Conclusion. The variant of the daily blood pressure profile does not depend on the psychotype of the patient; it is likely that functional and structural changes that occur during the formation of hypertension affect the type of the degree of nighttime decrease in blood pressure.