EFFECT OF COVID-19 ON BLOOD PRESSURE VARIABILITY IN HYPERTENSIVE PATIENTS

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the influence of COVID-19 on blood pressure variability in hypertensive patients with known subclinical organ damage (SCOD) previously assessed by evaluation of brachial artery Flow Mediated Dilatation (FMD), carotid artery Intima Media Thickness (IMT), left ventricular mass indexed to BSA (LVMI), E/e` ratio, left atrial volume indexed to BSA (LAVI). Design and method: We assessed 108 hypertensive patients who had SARS-CoV-2 infection in the previously 3 months before evaluation. All subjects included where evaluated for the presence of SCOD in the last 12 months before COVID-19 and underwent a 24-hour noninvasive ABPM on a working day, performing usual daily activities and avoiding heavy physical exercise. BP and heart rate readings were obtained every 15 minutes during daytime and every 30 minutes during nighttime. Subjects recorded a journal of the activities performed and the time of retiring to bed, ABPM recordings being divided into ‘awake’ or ‘asleep’ periods based on diary entries and not on predefined time intervals. BP variability was calculated as the standard deviation (SD) of mean blood pressure. Results: The hypertensive patients with previously known subclinical disease (SCOD+) compared with those without it (SCOD–) had significantly higher systolic and diastolic BP after SARS-CoV-2 infection, and significantly increased variability of both systolic and diastolic BP. Also, they had a significantly reduced decrease of nocturnal systolic BP (table 1). The analysis for each marker of subclinical organ damage indicated that increased systolic BP variability in hypertensive COVID-19 patients was significantly correlated with carotid IMT (r = 0.517, p = 0.001), brachial artery FMD (r = 0.426, p = 0.008), LVMI (r = 0.397, p = 0.009), E/e` ratio (r = 0.543, p = 0.001), left atrial volume indexed to BSA (LAVI) (r = 0.478, p = 0.003) and that diastolic BP variability is significantly correlated with carotid IMT (r = 0.362, p = 0.09), brachial artery FMD (r = 0.491, p = 0.006), LVMI (r = 0.369, p = 0.008), E/e` ratio (r = 0.422, p = 0.005), left atrial volume indexed to BSA (LAVI) (r = 0.407, p = 0.002). Conclusions: Our study indicates that SARS-CoV-2 infection in hypertensive patients induces an increased blood pressure variability which is significantly correlated with the presence of previously diagnosed subclinical disease.