Blood pressure and heart rate related to sex in untreated subjects: the India ABPM study

• Published in: The journal of clinical hypertension (Greenwich, Conn.) Vol. 22; no. 7; pp. 1154 - 1162
• Main Authors: Kaul, Upendra, Bhagwat, Ajit, Omboni, Stefano, Pancholia, Arvind K., Hardas, Suhas, Bardoloi, Neil, Davidson, Deepak, Sivakadaksham, Peruvamba R., Mohan, Jagdish C., Vaidyanathan, Peruvamba R., Natarajan, Subramaniam, Kapardhi, Lakshnmi N. P., Reddy, Karumuri S., Solanki, Dharmesh, Makkar, Jitendra S., Viswanathan, M, Arambam, Priyadarshini, Suvarna, Viraj, Verberk, Willem J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States John Wiley and Sons Inc 01.07.2020
• Subjects: Adult; ambulatory blood pressure measurement; Blood Pressure; Blood Pressure Monitoring, Ambulatory; Circadian Rhythm; Epidemiology; Female; Heart Rate; Humans; Hypertension - diagnosis; Hypertension - epidemiology; hypertension management; India; India - epidemiology; isolated nighttime hypertension; Male; masked hypertension; Middle Aged; office blood pressure measurement; Original Paper; white coat hypertension; India; masked hypertension; white coat hypertension; ambulatory blood pressure measurement; hypertension management; isolated nighttime hypertension; office blood pressure measurement; India
• ISSN: 1524-6175; 1751-7176; 1751-7176
• DOI: 10.1111/jch.13894

Women are underrepresented in groups of patients seeking hypertension care in India. The present paper reports trends in office and ambulatory blood pressure measurement (OBPM, ABPM) and 24‐h heart rate (HR) with sex in 14,977 subjects untreated for hypertension (aged 47.3 ± 13.9 years, males 69.4%) visiting primary care physicians. Results showed that, for systolic blood pressure (SBP), females had lower daytime ABPM (131 ± 16 vs. 133 ± 14 mm Hg, P < .001) but higher nighttime ABPM (122 ± 18 vs. 121 ± 16 mm Hg, P < .001) than males. Females had higher HR than men at daytime (80 ± 11 vs 79 ± 11.5 bpm) and nighttime (71 ± 11 vs 69 ± 11), respectively (all P < .001). Dipping percentages for SBP (7.4 ± 7.3 vs 9.3 ± 7.4%), DBP (10.1 ± 8.6 vs. 12.3 ± 8.9%), and HR (10.7 ± 7.9 vs. 12.8 ± 9.2%) were lower (P < .001) for females than for males, respectively. Females more often had isolated nighttime hypertension as compared to males (14.9%, n = 684% vs 10.6%, n = 1105; P < .001). BP patterns and HR showed clear differences in sex, particularly at nighttime. As females were more often affected by non‐dipping and elevated nighttime SBP and HR than males, they should receive ABPM, at least, as frequently as men to document higher risk necessitating treatment.