title: Sphingomyelin levels in nondipper and dipper hypertensive patients.
abstract: A number of studies have focused on the association between sphingomyelin (SM) levels and atherosclerosis, however, there are few data concerning the correlation of SM with nondipper hypertension. The present study aimed to investigate the correlation between plasma SM levels and nondipper status in patients with hypertension. A total of 200 hypertensive patients were enrolled and divided into two groups according to their ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (AMBP) results: Dipper group (84 patients) and nondipper group (116 patients). All patients were subjected to transthoracic echocardiography examination and laboratory tests. No statistically significant difference was observed between the two groups in terms of basic clinical characteristics. However, the plasma SM levels in the dipper group were significantly lower than those of the nondipper group (41.9±17.5 vs. 96.4±14.3 mg/dl, P=0.003). The left ventricular mass index (LVMI) was higher in the nondipper patients than in the dipper patients and the diastolic function parameters in the nondipper patients were less favorable. Correlation analysis showed that the SM level was negatively correlated with the magnitude of systolic blood pressure (SBP) fall at night (r=-0.42, P<0.01) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) fall at night (r=-0.31, P<0.01). The nondipper status had contributory effects on hypertensive concentric hypertrophy and diastolic function impairment. In addition, the plasma SM level was associated with a nondipper pattern of hypertension.
authors: Geriatrics Department, Tongji Hospital Affiliated to Tongji University, Shanghai 20065, P.R. China ; School of Life Science, Center for Evolutionary Medicine and Informatics, Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85281, USA.
authors: Huan
authors: H
authors: Zheng
authors: Geriatrics Department, Tongji Hospital Affiliated to Tongji University, Shanghai 20065, P.R. China.
authors: Xiaoyun
authors: X
authors: Xie
authors: Geriatrics Department, Tongji Hospital Affiliated to Tongji University, Shanghai 20065, P.R. China.
authors: Nanzi
authors: N
authors: Xie
authors: Cardiology Department, Tongji Hospital Affiliated to Tongji University, Shanghai 20065, P.R. China.
authors: Huifeng
authors: H
authors: Xu
authors: Cardiology Department, Tongji Hospital Affiliated to Tongji University, Shanghai 20065, P.R. China.
authors: Junling
authors: J
authors: Huang
authors: Geriatrics Department, Tongji Hospital Affiliated to Tongji University, Shanghai 20065, P.R. China.
authors: Ming
authors: M
authors: Luo
keywords: ambulatory blood pressure monitoring; echocardiography; hypertension; sphingomyelin