Nocturnal blood pressure abnormalities are independently associated with an increased risk of death and cardiovascular disease. It is unclear, however, whether they are related to the presence or severity of hypertension.
To determine and compare the prevalence of sleep pattern disturbances in normotensive (NT) and hypertensive patients.
The present cross-sectional study assessed the nocturnal blood pressure profiles from 24 h ambulatory blood pressure monitoring of refractory hypertensive (RH) (n=26), controlled hypertensive (CH) (n=52) and NT (n=52) subjects who were matched for age, sex and body mass index. Results are expressed as mean +/- SD or proportion, as appropriate.
During sleep, the percentage fall in mean arterial pressure was 15.1+/-6.1% in the NT group, 11.5+/-7.0% in the CH group and 7.7+/-7.7% in the RH group (P