Associations between body mass index, ambulatory blood pressure findings, and changes in cardiac structure: relevance of pulse and nighttime pressures.

Ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) is central in the management of hypertension. Factors related to BP, such as body mass index (BMI), may differently affect particular aspects of 24-hour ABPM profiles. However, the relevance of BMI, the most used index of adiposity, has been underappreciated in the determination of specific aspects of 24-hour ABPM profiles in hypertension. The authors evaluated the association between BMI and aspects of ABPM together with their associations with cardiac remodeling in 1841 patients. A positive association of BMI with 24-hour, daytime, and nighttime pulse pressure in untreated normal weight and overweight/obese hypertensive patients and a positive association of BMI with nocturnal BP parameters in treated overweight/obese hypertensive patients was observed. The clinical relevance of these findings was supported by the positive significant correlations of BMI-related BPs with left ventricular mass and atrial diameter.