The human blood pressure chronome: a biological gauge of aging.
OBJECTIVE
This study examines changes in the broad time structure (chronome) of blood pressure (BP) as a function of age.


METHODS
This is an observational study.


METHODS
The study was conducted at the Chronobiology Laboratories of the University oi Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota.


METHODS
Seventy-two individuals 12 to 106 years of age provided a 7-day record of BP measured indirectly with an ambulatory monitor, mostly at 15-60-minute intervals.


METHODS
Amplitudes in least squares spectra at frequencies of 1 to 7 cycles per week and 1 to 8 cycles per day were analyzed by linear regression as a function of age. A two-way analysis of variance for subjects classified in four age groups tested for any variance transposition from the circadian (about-daily) to the infradian (frequency lower than one cycle per day) and/or to the ultradian (frequency higher than one cycle per day) domain.


RESULTS
The decreasing circadian BP amplitude with age is accompanied by an increase in infradian and ultradian prominence. The day-to-day variability in circadian characteristics also increases with age.


CONCLUSIONS
A variance transposition from the circadian to the neighboring ultradian and infradian domains characterizes the elderly human BP chronome, as a new, technically implementable biological, rather than chronological, gauge of human aging.
Gubin
D
D
Tyumen Medical Academy, Russia.
Cornélissen
G
G
Halberg
F
F
Gubin
G
G
Uezono
K
K
Kawasaki
T
T
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D001794:Blood Pressure; D002648:Child; D002940:Circadian Rhythm; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged