title: 100 or 30 years after Janeway or Bartter, Healthwatch helps avoid 'flying blind'.
abstract: Longitudinal records of blood pressure (BP) and heart rate (HR) around the clock for days, weeks, months, years, and even decades obtained by manual self-measurements (during waking) and/or automatically by ambulatory monitoring reveal, in addition to well-known large within-day variation, also considerable day-to-day variability in most people, whether normotensive or hypertensive. As a first step, the circadian rhythm is considered along with gender differences and changes as a function of age to derive time-specified reference values (chronodesms), while reference values accumulate to also account for the circaseptan variation. Chronodesms serve for the interpretation of single measurements and of circadian and other rhythm parameters. Refined diagnoses can thus be obtained, namely MESOR-hypertension when the chronome-adjusted mean value (MESOR) of BP is above the upper limit of acceptability, excessive pulse pressure (EPP) when the difference in MESOR between the systolic (S) and diastolic (D) BP is too large, CHAT (circadian hyper-amplitude tension) when the circadian BP amplitude is excessive, DHRV (decreased heart rate variability) when the standard deviation (SD) of HR is below the acceptable range, and/or ecphasia when the overall high values recurring each day occur at an odd time (a condition also contributing to the risk associated with 'non-dipping'). A non-parametric approach consisting of a computer comparison of the subject's profile with the time-varying limits of acceptability further serves as a guide to optimize the efficacy of any needed treatment by timing its administration (chronotherapy) and selecting a treatment schedule best suited to normalize abnormal patterns in BP and/or HR. The merit of the proposed chronobiological approach to BP screening, diagnosis and therapy (chronotheranostics) is assessed in the light of outcome studies. Elevated risk associated with abnormal patterns of BP and/or HR variability, even when most if not all measurements lie within the range of acceptable values, becomes amenable to treatment as a critical step toward prevention (prehabilitation) to reduce the need for rehabilitation (the latter often after costly surgical intervention).
authors.affiliation: Halberg Chronobiology Center, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA. corne001@umn.edu
authors.forename: Germaine
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Cornélissen
authors.forename: Franz
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Halberg
authors.forename: Earl
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bakken
authors.forename: Ram B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Singh
authors.forename: Kuniaki
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Otsuka
authors.forename: Brian
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Tomlinson
authors.forename: Alain
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Delcourt
authors.forename: Guy
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Toussaint
authors.forename: Srilakshmi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bathina
authors.forename: Othild
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Schwartzkopff
authors.forename: Zhengrong
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Tarquini
authors.forename: Federico
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Perfetto
authors.forename: Giancarlo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pantaleoni
authors.forename: Rita
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Jozsa
authors.forename: Patrick A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Delmore
authors.forename: Ellis
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Nolley
mesh_terms: D019454:Chronotherapy / Q000379:methods / Q000639:trends; D002940:Circadian Rhythm; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000503:physiopathology