Intraindividual reproducibility of blood pressure surge upon rising after nighttime sleep and siesta.

The surge in blood pressure (BP) upon rising after waking in the morning has been associated with increased risk of target organ damage and cardiovascular events. The reproducibility of this phenomenon within the same 24-h period was tested in subjects with a siesta during ambulatory BP monitoring by assessing the morning surge (MS) vs. the evening surge (ES) after siesta. Ambulatory BP recordings with reported siesta from hypertensive subjects were analyzed. MS and ES were assessed using four different definitions. The intraindividual reproducibility was assessed using the standard deviation of differences between MS and ES, the concordance correlation coefficient, the coefficient of variation and the agreement between MS and ES in detecting "surgers" among hypertensive subjects (top quartile of the BP surge distribution). A total of 562 ambulatory recordings were analyzed (476 subjects, mean age 54.9+/-13.2 [SD] years, treated 47%). Average MS (16.3/14.4 mmHg, systolic/diastolic) was higher than ES (13.3/12.1 mmHg, p<0.001) due to higher post-rising BP in the morning (p<0.01). The intraindividual reproducibility was rather poor, with no clear differences among different definitions. However, there was about 70% agreement between MS and ES in the detection of "surgers" (systolic and diastolic, kappa statistic 0.18). These data suggest that, although the intraindividual reproducibility of the BP surge within the same 24-h period is rather poor, about 70% of the "morning surgers" were also "evening surgers." Thus, the BP surge might be an inherent pathophysiological characteristic of the BP behavior of an individual and deserves further investigation.

Morning blood pressure surge: the reliability of different definitions.

Preliminary evidence suggests that the morning surge (MS) in blood pressure (BP) is an independent predictor of cerebrovascular disease. However, the optimal definition of MS is uncertain. To compare the reproducibility of several MS definitions used in the literature, 132 untreated hypertensives were assessed with ambulatory BP monitoring twice, 2 weeks apart. Five MS definitions were compared. MS-1: the average BP of the first hour after rising minus the average BP of the first hour before rising; MS-2: BP 2 h after rising minus that of 2 h before rising; MS-3: BP 3 h after rising minus that of 3 h before rising; MS-4: BP 2 h after rising minus the average BP during sleep; MS-5: BP 2 h after rising minus the average BP of 3 consecutive readings, centered on the lowest reading during sleep. The reproducibility of each MS definition was assessed using the concordance correlation coefficient (CCC), the standard deviation of differences (SDD) and the coefficient of variation (CV) between repeated MS assessments, and the agreement in detecting "surgers," defined as subjects at the top quartile (Q4) of the MS distribution. CCCs were 0.20/0.30, 0.43/0.45, 0.53/0.51, 0.51/0.47, and 0.46/0.48 (systolic/diastolic) for MS-1 to MS-5 respectively; SDDs were 14.3/11.4, 12.1/9.9, 11.2/9.5, 10.3/8.2, and 11.9/9.8, respectively; CVs were 0.49/0.57, 0.44/0.39, 0.37/0.35, 0.36/0.31, and 0.27/0.24, respectively; and the agreement in detecting "surgers" was 69%/70%, 71%/76%, 75%/75%, 81%/83%, and 74%/75%, with kappa of 0.18/0.20, 0.23/0.36, 0.33/0.33, 0.49/0.53 and 0.29/0.31, respectively. There are important differences in the reproducibility of MS calculated by different methods. MS4 appears to provide the most reproducible definition of MS.

Home blood pressure is as reliable as ambulatory blood pressure in predicting target-organ damage in hypertension.

BACKGROUND: Our objective was to assess the value of home blood pressure (BP) monitoring in comparison to office BP measurements and ambulatory monitoring in predicting hypertension-induced target-organ damage. METHODS: Sixty-eight untreated patients with hypertension with at least two routine prestudy office visits were included (mean age, 48.6 +/- 9.1 [SD] years; 50 men). Office BP was measured in two study visits, home BP was measured for 6 workdays, and ambulatory BP was monitored for 24 h. All BP measurements were obtained using validated electronic devices. Target-organ damage was assessed by measuring the echocardiographic left-ventricular mass index (LVMI), urinary albumin excretion rate (AER) in two overnight urine collections, and carotid-femoral pulse-wave velocity (PWV) (Complior device; Colson, Garges-les-Gonesse, Paris, France). RESULTS: The correlation coefficients of LVMI with office BP were 0.24/0.15 (systolic/diastolic), with home BP 0.35/0.21 (systolic, P < .01), and with 24-h ambulatory BP 0.23/0.19, awake 0.21/0.16, and asleep 0.28/0.26 (asleep, both P < .05). The correlation coefficients of AER with office BP were 0.24/0.31 (diastolic, P < .05), with home BP 0.28/0.26 (both P < .05), and with 24-h ambulatory BP 0.25/0.24, awake 0.24/0.25 (diastolic, P < .05), and asleep 0.26/0.18 (systolic, P < .05). There was a trend for negative correlations between PWV and diastolic BP measurements (not significant). In multiple-regression models assessing independent predictors of each of the three indices of target-organ damage, systolic home BP and age were the only independent predictors of increased LVMI that reached borderline statistical significance. CONCLUSIONS: These data suggest that home BP is as reliable as ambulatory monitoring in predicting hypertension-induced target-organ damage, and is superior to carefully taken office measurements.

Additional antihypertensive effect of drugs in hypertensive subjects uncontrolled on diltiazem monotherapy: a randomized controlled trial using office and home blood pressure monitoring.

The purpose of this study was to compare several diltiazem-based antihypertensive drug combinations and assess the usefulness of home blood pressure monitoring in the evaluation of the efficacy of combination pharmacotherapy. Sixteen general practitioners recruited hypertensive subjects uncontrolled on diltiazem monotherapy, who were randomized to receive eight weeks of add-on therapy with a diuretic (chlorthalidone), a dihydropyridine calcium antagonist (felodipine), an ACE inhibitor (lisinopril), or an angiotensin blocker (valsartan). Sitting office and home blood pressure was measured using electronic devices A&D 767. A total of 211 patients were randomized, and 185 completed the study. Of 52 subjects randomized to felodipine, 15 were withdrawn due to ankle edema. The additional antihypertensive effect of the second drug was smaller in 18 subjects with a white coat effect (p < 0.01). All combinations produced a significant decline in office (21.2 +/- 14.8 / 7.7 +/- 9.7 mmHg) and home (17.1 +/- 11.9 / 6.0 +/- 7.0) blood pressure (systolic / diastolic, p < 0.001). There were no differences in the efficacy of the four combinations assessed using office or home blood pressure monitoring. These data suggest that diuretics, dihydropyridines, ACE inhibitors, and angiotensin receptor blockers provide significant additional antihypertensive effects in hypertensive patients uncontrolled on diltiazem monotherapy. The diltiazem-dihydropyridine combination is often intolerable because of ankle edema. Home blood pressure monitoring is useful in the assessment of the efficacy of combination pharmacotherapy and also allows for the detection of subjects who do not require treatment intensification.

Acute pyelonephritis in adults: prediction of mortality and failure of treatment.

BACKGROUND: To formulate a classification tool for early recognition of patients admitted with acute pyelonephritis (AP) who are at high risk for failure of treatment or for death. METHODS: A retrospective chart review of 225 patients (102 men) admitted with AP. We considered 13 potential risk factors in a multivariate analysis. RESULTS: Recent hospitalization, previous use of antibiotics, and immunosuppression were found to be independent correlates of the prevalence of resistant pathogens in both sexes. Additional predictors included nephrolithiasis in women and a history of recurrent AP in men. Prolonged hospitalization should be expected for a man with diabetes and long-term catheterization who is older than 65 years or for a woman of any age with the same characteristics, when the initial treatment was changed according to the results of urine culture. For mortality prediction, we derived an integer-based scoring system with 6 points for shock, 4 for bedridden status, 4 for age greater than 65 years, and 3 for previous antibiotic treatment for men and 6 points for shock, 4 for bedridden status, 4 for age greater than 65 years, and 3 for immunosuppression for women. Among patients with at least 11 points, the risk for in-hospital death was 100% for men and 91% for women. CONCLUSIONS: Simple variables available at presentation can be used for risk stratification of patients with AP. The additional identification of certain risk factors by means of a carefully obtained history could contribute to early recognition of patients infected by resistant bacteria and optimize the selection of antimicrobial agents.

The prognostic significance of CA 125 in patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the association of serum CA 125 in patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) with prognostic parameters of the disease, response to treatment, and survival. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Sixty-eight patients [38 males, median age 56 (range 17-82) yr] with NHL were evaluated. CA 125 was measured by an enzyme immunoradiometric assay at diagnosis and at the end of first-line treatment. RESULTS: Median overall CA 125 was 49 (1-963) U mL-1, whereas 49 patients had initially abnormal (>35 U mL) CA 125 levels. High CA 125 was found to correlate with failure of treatment (P = 0.001) and relapse (P = 0.01), and to be independently associated with bulky disease, effusions, LDH, and the International Prognostic Index (IPI) score (P<0.01 for each of these four variables). An initially abnormal CA 125 value was associated with poorer 5-yr survival [median survival of patients with CA 125>35 U mL-1 33 (18-72) months compared to 58 (20-77) months for those with CA 125 = 35 U mL-1, P = 0.012]. Moreover, CA 125>35 U mL-1 (among stage III/IV and LDH>460 mU mL-1) emerged as an independent predictor of death within 5 yr from diagnosis (Relative Risk (RR) 3.1, 95% CI 1.5-12.8, P = 0.02). CONCLUSION: Measurement of serum CA 125 is useful for staging, monitoring, and estimating prognosis in patients with NHL.

A mortality prediction model in diabetic ketoacidosis.

AIM: To assess the value of clinical and laboratory parameters in predicting mortality in patients presenting with diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA). METHODS: The records of all DKA admissions within 10 years were reviewed. Eighteen variables were evaluated at initial presentation and 20 variables at 4, 12 and 24 h from admission. A scoring system derived from these variables was compared to the APACHE III scoring system. RESULTS: Among 154 patients (52 males, mean age 58 +/- 12 years), 20 (13%) died in hospital. Multivariate analysis yielded six variables as significant independent predictors (P < 0.05) of mortality: severe coexisting diseases (SCD) and pH < 7.0, at presentation; units of regular insulin required in the first 12 h > 50 and serum glucose > 16.7 mmo/l, after 12 h; depressed mental state and fever, after 24 h. An integer-based scoring system was derived, as follows: number of points = 6 (SCD at presentation) + 4 (pH < 7.0 at presentation) + 4 (regular insulin required > 50 IU after 12 h) + 4 (serum glucose > 16.7 mmo/l after 12 h) + 4 (depressed mental state after 24 h) + 3 (fever after 24 h). Patients with 0-14 points had 0.86% risk of death, whereas for those with 19-25 points the risk was 93.3%. Median APACHE III scores differed significantly (P < 0.001) among groups of patients stratified according to the above scoring system. CONCLUSIONS: Risk stratification of patients with diabetic ketoacidosis is possible from simple clinical and laboratory variables available during the first day of hospitalization.