title: Blood pressure during sleep: antihypertensive medication.
abstract: To investigate whether excessive reduction of blood pressure (BP) by antihypertensive medications correlates with myocardial infarction, especially during sleep in elderly patients, we used telemetry and cuvette dye-dilution methods to assess the direct BP and the hemodynamics of 68 inpatients with essential hypertension during wakefulness and sleep. There were 25 patients greater than or equal to 60 years old (OH-group) and 43 were less than or equal to 59 years old (YH-group). Of the OH-group, 36% showed high BP during the day, with marked decreases (minimum BP less than 110/70 mm Hg) during sleep. Average cardiac index (CI) of the OH-group was low during wakefulness and extremely low during slow-wave sleep. Changes of mean BP in the OH-group correlated with changes in total peripheral vascular resistance index (TPRI) during sleep, but this correlation was not observed in the YH-group. The antihypertensive effects on nocturnal BP of the various medications was: central adrenergic inhibitors less than or equal to beta blockers with intrinsic sympathomimetic activity less than or equal to alpha (alpha beta) blockers less than or equal to angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors less than or equal to calcium antagonists. Because BP and CI were found to be very low and TPRI seems to play an important role in BP regulation in sleeping elderly patients, excessive antihypertensive medication may be harmful to this subgroup. However, because the effects on nocturnal BP differ among various antihypertensive treatments, further research is required on the relation between antihypertensive medication and the hemodynamics of sleeping elderly hypertensive patients.
authors.affiliation: Internal Medicine II, Yokohama City University, Japan.
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Tochikubo
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Minamisawa
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Miyakawa
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Miyajima
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Fujiki
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ishii
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000959:Antihypertensive Agents / Q000494:pharmacology* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D002302:Cardiac Output / Q000502:physiology; D002940:Circadian Rhythm / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012890:Sleep / Q000502:physiology*; D014655:Vascular Resistance / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D000959:Antihypertensive Agents