EFFECT OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC ON THE NYCHTHEMERAL BLOOD PRESSURE PROFILE

ABSTRACT

Objective: The world is currently facing the fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of this study was to assess the effect of this pandemic on ambulatory blood pressure measurements and to compare the blood pressure profile between COVID-19 positive and negative patients. Design and method: We performed a unicentric, retrospective study on the register of ambulatory blood pressure measurements (ABPM) of the ERASME Hospital from 2010 to 2021. ABPMs performed during the pandemic period (January 2020 to October 2021) were compared with those from 5 previous control periods. In order to improve the comparison of the different periods, we considered variations (delta) of each period from the previous 3 months. For all patients whose ABPM was performed during the COVID-19 period, we looked for COVID test results preceding the ABPM. These patients were classified into 2 groups COVID positive, if at least one PCR or serological test was positive, and COVID negative if not. Data analysis was performed using SPSS version 23.0. Results: After exclusion of incomplete and poor-quality ABPMs, 18766 were retained, of which 1796 (9.57%) were for the COVID-19 period. The control periods represented 14.77% to 18.81% of the MAPAs in the study. We observed that diurnal, nocturnal and 24-hour diastolic blood pressures (BP) were higher in the COVID-19 period than in the previous 5 periods ranging from January 2010 to October 2019. Pulse pressure was lower in the COVID-19 period compared to the previous periods. Of the 1796 patients in the COVID-19 period, pre-ABPM COVID- 19 status were obtained from 368 patients, 322 negatives and 46 positives. In COVID-19 positive patients, daytime systolic BP was higher than in COVID-19 negative patients (88,41 ± 11,74 vs 84,63 ± 12,24;p = 0.047). Also, the pulse pressure of COVID-19 positive patients was lower (44,46 ± 7,72 vs 47,57 ± 8,84). No significant differences were observed between the two groups for the other parameters. Conclusions: The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in increased daytime and nighttime diastolic blood pressures. Also, this study suggests an increase in diurnal diastolic blood pressure after COVID-19 infection.