Purpose: To evaluate the left ventricular hypertrophy correlation with blood pressure variability during day and night time as well as throughout the 24h period.
Methods: Fifteen patients with mild to moderate essential hypertension underwent to bi-dimensional echocardiographic study and to 24h ambulatory blood pressure monitorization. Left ventricular mass was calculated according to previous validated formulas. The standard deviation of the mean blood pressures during day-time, night-time and 24h period was taken as blood pressure variability indices. The mean age of the group was 42 years old; 9 patients were male and all were white.
Results: This study showed that only the systolic and diastolic blood pressure variability during the 24h period correlated significantly with left ventricular mass, (r = 0.53 and p < 0.05; r = 0.58 and p < 0.05 respectively). There was no significant correlation of the day-time and night-time pressures variability with left ventricular mass.
Conclusion: The systolic and diastolic blood pressure variability during the 24h period may be one of the many determinants of left ventricular hypertrophy in patients with mild to moderate hypertension.