The ambulatory blood pressure monitoring in the elderly patients with essential hypertension and stroke

Objective To study the feature of 24 hour ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) in elderly patients with essential hypertension and stroke.Methods 307 patients with essential hypertension were divided into two groups:group A (age60 years,n=161);group B(age≥60 years,n=146).According to the patients with or without stroke both groups were further divided into 4 subgroups:A 1 (without stroke),A 2 (with stroke),B 1 (without stroke) and B 2 (with stroke).All subjects were examined by ABPM.Results The incidence of non dipper type blood pressure in group B was significantly higher than that in group A [79% (115/146)vs 61% (98/161)].The pulse pressure(PP) in group B was significantly higher than that in group A (PP of day in group B 1 was 52.9 mmHg and in B 2 was 53.2 mmHg,PP of night in group B 1 was 49.4 mmHg and in B 2 was 53 mmHg)(P0.05 and P0.001,respectively).Night SBP in subgroup B 2 was significantly higher than those in the other subgroups(128 mmHg vs 117.4 mmHg,121.1 mmHg and 120.7 mmHg)(P0.05).Conclusion The features of ABPM in elderly hypertension patients are abvious changes of blood pressure circadian rhythm and pulse pressure.