BACKGROUND: This study aimed to investigate the potential association between the circadian rhythm of blood pressure and deceleration capacity (DC)/acceleration capacity (AC) in patients with essential hypertension.
METHODS: This study included 318 patients with essential hypertension, whether or not they were being treated with anti-hypertensive drugs, who underwent 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM). Patients were categorized into three groups based on the percentage of nocturnal systolic blood pressure (SBP) dipping: the dipper, non-dipper and reverse dipper groups. Baseline demographic characteristics, ambulatory blood pressure monitoring parameters, Holter recordings (including DC and AC), and echocardiographic parameters were collected.
RESULTS: In this study, the lowest DC values were observed in the reverse dipper group, followed by the non-dipper and dipper groups (6.46 ± 2.06 vs. 6.65 ± 1.95 vs. 8.07 ± 1.79 ms, P < .001). Additionally, the AC gradually decreased (-6.32 ± 2.02 vs. -6.55 ± 1.95 vs. -7.80 ± 1.73 ms, P < .001). There was a significant association between DC (r = .307, P < .001), AC (r=-.303, P < .001) and nocturnal SBP decline. Furthermore, DC (β = 0.785, P = .001) was positively associated with nocturnal SBP decline, whereas AC was negatively associated with nocturnal SBP (β = -0.753, P = .002). By multivariate logistic regression analysis, deceleration capacity [OR (95% CI): 0.705 (0.594-0.836), p < .001], and acceleration capacity [OR (95% CI): 1.357 (1.141-1.614), p = .001] were identified as independent risk factors for blood pressure nondipper status. The analysis of ROC curves revealed that the area under the curve for DC/AC in predicting the circadian rhythm of blood pressure was 0.711/0.697, with a sensitivity of 73.4%/65.1% and specificity of 66.7%/71.2%.
CONCLUSIONS: Abnormal DC and AC density were correlated with a blunted decline in nighttime SBP, suggesting a potential association between the circadian rhythm of blood pressure in essential hypertension patients and autonomic nervous dysfunction.
