[Identification of "presumptive risk" of hypertension crises with fractal interpolation of the 24-hour arterial pressure. III: study of normotensive subjects].
OBJECTIVE
The present study is devoted to identify the normotensive subjects who are at a "presumptive risk" (PR) for hypertensive crisis, by applying the "fractal interpolation" (FI) to blood pressure 24-h pattern.


METHODS
The investigation was performed on 109 ascertained cases of normotension, who underwent a non-invasive ambulatory monitoring of their 24-h blood pressure, by applying the FI to their daily mean arterial pressure.


RESULTS
The study showed that the PR for hypertensive crisis can be found in 12% out of the investigated normotensives. The proportion of such a risk is not significantly higher in non-dippers as compared to dippers. Vice versa, the prevalence of cases with a PR for hypertensive crisis was found to be significantly increased in normotensives who were deprived by a significant blood pressure circadian rhythm as compared to those who showed the blood pressure circadian rhythm to be preserved. Furthermore, the cases "at risk" were found to show a different spectrum for the harmonic formants which compose the complex harmonic structure of the blood pressure 24-h variability.


CONCLUSIONS
The PR for hypertensive crisis in normotensives seems to be increased by the loss of the blood pressure circadian rhythm, due to a change in the harmonic structure which confers the 24-h periodicity to the hemodynamic variable. This means that the abrogation of the blood pressure circadian rhythm in conditions of normotension promotes an adjunctive disorder for which the PR for hypertensive crisis is augmented.
Cugini
P
P
Medicina Interna, Dipartimento di Scienze Cliniche, Università di Roma La Sapienza, Roma, Italia.
De Rosa
R
R
Coda
S
S
De Francesco
G P
GP
Fontana
S
S
Pellegrino
A M
AM
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D018660:Blood Pressure Monitoring, Ambulatory; D005260:Female; D017709:Fractals; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000175:diagnosis*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018570:Risk Assessment