Study of Blood Pressure Variability and Nocturnal Dipping in Primary Hypertensive Patients by Ambulatory BP Monitoring

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Assessment of fluctuation of blood pressure in atime range from minutes to hours is possible through the use ofintermittent, noninvasive 24 h ambulatory blood pressuremonitoring (ABPM).This study was conducted with the Aimsand Objectives of determining BP variability and nocturnaldipping in primary hypertensive patients.Materials and Methods: The present observational study wasconducted at a tertiary care hospital after getting approval fromEthics Committee with 80 patients between August 2016 toOctober 2017. Schiller BR-102 plus 24 hour ambulatory BloodPressure Recorder was the equipment used for our study.Statistical analysis of data derived from patients was done.Results: Out of 80 patients studied, 53 patients had one ormore of Target Organ Damage and there was no evidence ofTarget Organ Damage in 27 patients. In the present study, nosignificant difference has been found in nocturnal dipping andblood pressure variability in patients with and without targetorgan damage.