title: Blood pressure pattern importance in the development of left ventricular hypertrophy in hypertension.
abstract: Heterogeneous results regarding correlations between blood pressure, (measured by various methods and in different conditions), and left ventricular mass in arterial hypertension have been reported. Fifty-three essential hypertensives, I-II WHO stage, have been studied in order to verify the relationship between office and average 24-hour blood pressure, and its day- and night-time pattern with left ventricular hypertrophy. All patients had newly diagnosed essential hypertension, and no subject had received any antihypertensive therapy before entry. The subjects underwent 24-hour blood pressure monitoring, evaluating the average of 24 hours, day- and night-time blood pressures, and M-mode echocardiography. Neither subjects with nor without left ventricular hypertrophy showed correlations between office blood pressure and left ventricular mass. On the contrary, average 24-hour systolic and diastolic blood pressure resulted related to left ventricular mass (r = 0.36 and 0.40, p less than 0.01 respectively). Furthermore, in the subgroup with left ventricular hypertrophy, left ventricular mass was correlated directly with nocturnal systolic blood pressure (r = 0.46) and inversely with the rate of nocturnal decrease in systolic pressure (r = -0.60, p less than 0.01). These results appear to confirm the usefulness of 24-hour blood pressure monitoring in evaluating cardiac afterload in essential hypertension, and the important role that the 24-hour systolic pressure has in the development of left ventricular hypertrophy in these subjects.
authors.affiliation: Cattedra di Medicina Interna e Centro Ipertensione, Università Degli Studi di Palermo.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Cerasola
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: D'Ignoto
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cottone
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Nardi
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Grasso
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Zingone
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Volpe
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001794:Blood Pressure; D006332:Cardiomegaly / Q000209:etiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008297:Male