Evaluation of hypertension and related target organ damage by average day-time blood pressure.

Aim of the present study was to verify whether average blood pressure continuously recorded throughout the day correlates with the degree of target organ damage more closely than casual pressure in hypertensive patients. The study was conducted in 102 subjects with borderline, moderate and severe hypertension. Our results confirm a closer relationship between cardiovascular complications and recorder blood pressure than casual pressure possibly because the latter less perfectly reflects the patients usual pressures which are generally lower. However our results further demonstrate that blood pressure variability also contributes to the degree of target organ damage since for equal average day-time pressures a greater severity of cardiovascular complications was observed in patients with the highest blood pressure variability and the highest peaks of pressure. These findings should be carefully considered when evaluating the effect of antihypertensive drugs.