Abstract
Objective: It has been shown a significant difference in clinical characteristics of HTN and treatment response to antihypertensive therapy between males and females. The purpose of our article was to examine gender differences in the regulation of blood pressure (BP) by using ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM). Design and method: Two hundred seventy-five consecutive hypertensive patients were included in the study (146 females, mean age 64.11 ± 10.47 and 129 males, mean age 61.69 ± 13.59). All patients were on antihypertensive treatment for more than one year (average duration of HTN was 11.07 ± 8.24 years for women, and 10.31 ± 7.5 years for men). In all pts, AMBP was performed. The values obtained by AMBP were compared between the two groups. Results: There were no significant differences in the presence of coronary artery disease, obesity, diabetes mellitus, or heredity between the groups. There were more smokers among male patients (p = 0.007), while dyslipidemia was more present in female pts (p = 0.005). Male pts had higher values of systolic (124.05 ± 13.89 vs. 119.5 ± 16.58, p = 0.015) and diastolic BP (72.77 ± 8.42 vs. 69.24 ± 8.23, p = 0.001) and larger burden of high BP during the night (56.54 ± 35.52 vs. 33.11 ± 35.27, p = 0.000) compared to female pts. There were no significant differences in pulse pressure (PP) values between the male and female groups (51.17 ± 11.33 vs. 50.72 ± 10.38, p = 0.730). However, pathological values of PP (<40 mmHg or > 60 mmHg) were found in almost 1/3 of pts (34.92% in men and 28.57% in women). Also, there was no significant difference in dipping pattern but only 40 (31.01%) male and 50 (34.25%) female patients had dipper status. There was no statistically significant difference in antihypertensive therapy between the groups. The most commonly used drugs were the angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (82.21% of all pts) and beta blockers (78.78%), while the angiotensin receptor blockers were the least used (15.98%). Conclusions: Results indicate that women have better BP control than men. However, a high frequency of pathological PP values and disturbed dipping status detected by ABPM, in women as well as men, should highlight the importance of better BP management in both genders.
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