title: Morning blood pressure is useful for detection of left ventricular hypertrophy in hemodialysis patients.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  When diagnosing hypertension (HT) it is essential to determine not only the level of raised blood pressure (BP), but also how the condition relates to organ damage. The best time to measure BP for diagnosing HT in patients on hemodialysis (HD) remains unclear.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 100 HD patients (mean age 63.8 years, 60 males) were studied. Left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) was detected by echocardiography and BP monitored for 1 week at 20 different times in the morning and night, before and after dialysis. We also checked for masked HT, i.e., patients with weekly morning HT, but not pre-dialysis HT.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Average BP for the week was 141.9 ±19.0/79.6 ± 10.6 mmHg, with 68 patients classified as hypertensive. Average morning BP was 144.6 ± 19.8/81.7 ± 11.3 mmHg, and 71 patients had weekly morning HT. In addition, 62 patients had LVH and 51 patients had relative morning HT. Multiple logistic analyses showed that LVH was associated with weekly morning HT, morning HT on HD and non-HD days, average HT, and relative morning HT. However, evening, pre-dialysis, and post-dialysis HT showed no association with LVH. Masked HT was found in 20 % of patients. If HT had been diagnosed using only pre-dialysis BP, 20 of the 71 patients with weekly morning HT would not have been detected.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Morning BP is useful for detecting LVH in HD patients. Monitoring of morning BP may be superior to measurements taken at other times for diagnosing HT.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular and Internal Medicine, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Hiroshima University, Hiroshima, Japan.
authors.forename: Rika
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ago
authors.forename: Ayumu
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nakashima
authors.forename: Takayuki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Naito
authors.forename: Shigehiro
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Doi
authors.forename: Mariko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ochiai
authors.forename: Naoki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Hamaguchi
authors.forename: Yukio
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yokoyama
authors.forename: Junko
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tanaka
authors.forename: Noriaki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Yorioka
authors.forename: Takao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Masaki
authors.forename: Nobuoki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kohno
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000502:physiology*; D002940:Circadian Rhythm / Q000502:physiology*; D015897:Comorbidity; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004452:Echocardiography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D017379:Hypertrophy, Left Ventricular / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D006435:Renal Dialysis; D051436:Renal Insufficiency, Chronic / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013997:Time Factors