Blood pressure during normal daily activities, sleep, and exercise. Comparison of values in normal and hypertensive subjects

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Blood pressure (BP) readings were taken every 15 min using a noninvasive ambulatory BP recorder during 24 h in 25 subjects with normal BP, 25 with borderline hypertension and 25 with established essential hypertension. Readings were analyzed for 4 situations: physician''s office, work, at home and asleep. Treadmill exercise tests were also performed on a separate occasion with the Bruce protocol. The 24 h recording in all 3 groups showed the highest BP at work and the lowest during sleep. The situational BP changes were generally similar, but both hypertensive groups differed from normal subjects in that they showed consistently higher BP in the physician''s office than at home, while normal subjects showed little difference. During exercise, the hypertensive groups showed a similar rise of systolic pressure to that of normal subjects. Pressures recorded in the physician''s office gave good predictions of the average 24 h pressure in normal and established hypertensive subjects, but not in the borderline group; in such patients, 24 h monitoring may be of particular value in establishing the need for treatment.