New way to express ambulatory blood pressure variability.

Abstract

To the Editor: In their recent article, Sega et al1 provide the first demonstration that, in the population, there is a positive independent association between left ventricular mass index and the blood pressure variability component that has an erratic nature. For these conclusions we would report some considerations, based on our studies. Ambulatory blood pressure variability, measured as the standard deviation of the overall 24-hour blood pressure recording, has been shown to have a significant relationship to end-organ damage in hypertension. So far, the standard deviation of mean values, which is easily calculated by most physicians who use ambulatory blood pressure monitoring in their clinical practice, has been most widely used. Some studies have shown that the standard deviation of daytime pressure values tends to be higher in hypertensive than in normotensive people.2 …