New Way to Express Ambulatory Blood Pressure Variability To the Editor: In their recent article, Sega et al1 provide the first demonstration that, in the population, there is a positive independent association between left ventricular mass index and the blood pressure variability component that has an erratic nature. For these conclusions we would report some considerations, based on our studie...

1. In 70 patients with untreated essential hypertension, blood pressure variability was correlated to plasma catecholamines and to the response of blood pressure and peripheral flow to cold pressure and handgrip tests. 2. Supine blood pressure was recorded every 5 min, during 3 h. Variability was defined as the standard deviation of the mean of the readings in that period. 3. Blood pressure var...

1. To investigate the influence of heart rate variability on blood pressure variability, short-term variability in heart rate and blood pressure was studied in 10 children with fixed ventricular pacemaker rhythm (80 beats/min). Ten healthy children, in sinus rhythm, served as a reference population. 2. Arterial blood pressure and heart rate were measured continuously using a finger arterial dev...

BACKGROUND The mechanisms by which hypertension causes vascular events are unclear. Guidelines for diagnosis and treatment focus only on underlying mean blood pressure. We aimed to reliably establish the prognostic significance of visit-to-visit variability in blood pressure, maximum blood pressure reached, untreated episodic hypertension, and residual variability in treated patients. METHODS...

Effects of Western diet and lifestyle factors resulting in hypertension are known, however, the effects of lifestyle on blood pressure variability measured by ambulatory blood pressure monitoring are not sufficiently well known. In the present case, it has been observed that Western diet, sedentary behavior and mental load in a subject with normal blood pressures were associated with blood pres...

We examined the influence of baroreceptor reflex sensitivity (the increase in pulse interval in response to a phenylephrine-induced increase in blood pressure), age, blood pressure, and beta-adrenergic receptor blockade on the variability of blood pressure and heart rate in essential hypertension. Fifty-six subjects were studied before treatment; intra-arterial blood pressure was recorded outsi...

With interest we have read the article by White et al. 1 In their well-designed prospective cohort study, they demonstrate the importance of increased 24-hour systolic blood pressure, but not clinic systolic blood pressure, in the progression of brain white matter hyperintensity volume burden associated with impairment of cogni-tive function in older people. They conclude that 24-hour of systol...

Blood pressure variability (BPV) is a classical physiological phenomenon. This paper describes major epidemiological and clinical issues of BPV which may be important to understand the background of this interesting feature. In healthy subjects, BPV is a measure of hemodynamic condition and refl ects function of autonomic nervous system. BP fl uctuations result from the complex interaction betw...