HIGH PREVALENCE OF HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE AND EXCESSIVE BLOOD PRESSURE REDUCTION IN PATIENTS WITH “CONTROLLED” ARTERIAL HYPERTENSION AFTER MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION AND STROKE

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Objective: Arterial hypertension (AH) is important risk factor and its control is a cornerstone of primary and secondary prevention. On the other hand, excessive blood pressure (BP) reduction may be harmful, especially in patients with the history of ischemic events. To assess AH control we performed 24-hours ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) in patients with AH in remote period after myocardial infarction (MI) or ischemic stroke (IS) in whom AH was believed to be controlled accordingly BP office measurements. Design and method: 64 patients with AH and previous (at least 6 months after) MI (39 patients, 64.1% men) and IS (25 patients, 36.0% men) with normal office BP (120–139 mm Hg/60–89 mm Hg) during two consecutive visits were involved into the study. ABPM was performed and mean values of systolic BP (SBP) and diastolic BP (DBP) were assessed. Excessive BP reduction (EBPR) was considered as SBP below 100 mm Hg at daytime. Prolonged EBPR was considered as EBPR more than 1 hour of consecutive measurements. Results: Groups did not differ significantly in age, body mass index, glomerular filtration rate, number of antihypertensive drugs, prevalence of diabetes. Mean 24-hour SBP was higher in IS group (131.9/76.4 ± 11.7/7.3 mm Hg) comparing to 118.5/71.3 ± 11.0/9.0 mm Hg in MI group (p < 0,00001 for both SBP and DBP). Mean 24-hour SBP higher than 140/90 mm Hg was found in 28.0% patients in IS and only in 2.6% patients in MI group (p = 0.002). Much more episodes of EBPR were detected in MI than in IS group (10.2 ± 10.8 vs 4.0 ± 3.9, p = 0.008) and number of patients with at least one prolonged EBPR was also higher in MI group (23.1% vs 8.0%). Patients with prolonged EBPR did not differ significantly in age, body mass index, glomerular filtration rate, prevalence of diabetes and number of antihypertensive drugs. Conclusions: Around a quarter of patients in remote period after IS had high BP levels whereas similar proportion of patients after MI had prolonged episodes of excessive hypotension during ABPM. Office BP measurements may be not sufficient to detect inadequacy of AH control in secondary prevention.