Non-dipping morning blood pressure and isolated systolic hypertension in elderly

Abstract

Morning hypertension is currently the blind spot in the clinical practice of hypertension, home 24-hour blood pressure measurement has been recommended in patients with a high clinic blood pressure and patients with target organ damage. To assess whether an increased early morning blood pressure surge, established via a single 24-hour blood pressure monitoring, in treated elderly hypertensive's is related to more prominent target organ damage. 310 treated hypertensive patients randomly attended the out-patient clinic of our hypertension centre. The patients were divided in 2 groups: systolic/diastolic blood pressure hypertension (n = 266) and isolated systolic hypertension (n = 44 76 ± 10 yrs). Equivalent in both males and females, despite the rise in nondippers with an early morning surge (higher in females). Hyperlipidemia arises equally in dippers and nondippers, 45 % of nondippers had diabetes mellitus; 30 % suffered previous renal insufficiency and about 29 % of patients suffered from an endocrine disorder, mostly thyroid. Metabolic syndrome was only found to be associated with a nondipping pattern (3 %). Left ventricular hypertrophy was present in 100 % of patients, heart failure in 60 % nondippers and 56 % dippers, potential renal insufficiency in 34 % nondippers and 22 % dippers, retinopathy in 31 % non dippers and 11 % dippers, aortic aneurysm was only in nondippers. Early morning surge is a predictor of hypertensive target organ damage, being a dipper or nondipper patient with isolated systolic hypertension, might not make a difference depending on one's own degree of target organ damage and diurnal variation (Fig. 2, Ref. 30).