Objective: The current study was to evaluate the association of office blood pressure (OBP) and 24h ambulatory blood pressure (ABP) with left ventricular (LV) structure and function in hypertensive patients. Whether the association was modified by sex was also evaluated.
Methods: A total of 694 hypertensive patients without cardiovascular disease were retrospectively included from the inpatient clinic. Regression analysis was performed to evaluate the association of OBP and 24h ABP parameters with LV mass index (LVMi), e’ velocity and left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) with adjustment for covariates including age, obesity, diabetes mellitus, obstructive sleep apnea, estimated glomerular filtration rate and antihypertensive drugs.
Results: There was no difference in OBP by sex. Compared to women, men had a higher 24h (132.6 ± 11.3 vs 129.3 ± 10.0 mm Hg), daytime (136.6 ± 12.9 vs 132.8 ± 9.5 mm Hg) and nighttime (130.3 ± 9.2 vs 125.1 ± 6.6 mm Hg) SBP. The proportion of patients with non-dipping pattern and reverse dipper pattern was also higher in men. In the overall participants, 24h, daytime and nighttime SBP, non-dipping and reverse dipper pattern were associated with LVMi, e’ velocity and LVH, which were not observed in OBP. The magnitude of the association between 24h, daytime and nighttime SBP, non-dipping and reverse dipper pattern with LVMi, e’ velocity and LVH was stronger in men than in women (P-value for interaction < 0.05).
Conclusion: Twenty-four-hour ABP appears to be better than OBP in association with LV structural and functional alterations, and this association was modified by sex.
Keywords: office blood pressure, ambulatory blood pressure, sex, cardiac structure, cardiac function