BACKGROUND: Isolated nocturnal hypertension (INH) is associated with increased prevalence of left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) and cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in adult patients. Unlike in adults, data illustrating the possible association between INH and cardiac target organ damage is lacking in children. This study aimed to investigate whether INH is associated with increased left ventricular mass index (LVMI) and LVH in children. METHODS: Retrospective data from all untreated children with confirmed ambulatory hypertension (HT) in our center was reviewed. Ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) and echocardiography were performed concurrently. Ambulatory normotensive children served as controls. LVH was defined as LVMI ≥ 95th percentile. RESULTS: There were 102 ABPM studies; of these, 79 children had renal HT, and 23 had primary HT. Median age of children was 13.2 years (3.8-18.9). Nineteen children had INH, 9 children had isolated daytime HT, 54 had daytime and nighttime HT, and 20 were normotensive. The LVMI adjusted for age (patient's LVMI/95th percentile of the LVMI) was significantly higher in children with INH than in normotensive children (0.83 ± 0.03 vs. 0.74 ± 0.03, p = 0.03). Left ventricular hypertrophy was present in 11% of children with INH; this was not significantly higher than in normotensive children (0%, p = 0.23). CONCLUSIONS: This study investigated the association between INH and cardiac structure in children with primary and renal HT and showed children with INH had higher LVMI adjusted for age than normotensive children and children with INH had similar LVMI adjusted for age to children with isolated daytime HT.

• Keywords
• Ambulatory blood pressure monitoring, Children, Echocardiography, Isolated nocturnal hypertension, LVMI, Left ventricular hypertrophy,
• MeSH
• Blood Pressure Monitoring, Ambulatory * MeSH
• Child MeSH
• Hypertension * complications   epidemiology   MeSH
• Hypertrophy, Left Ventricular diagnostic imaging   epidemiology   MeSH
• Blood Pressure MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Adolescent MeSH
• Child, Preschool MeSH
• Retrospective Studies MeSH
• Check Tag
• Child MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Adolescent MeSH
• Child, Preschool MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't MeSH

BACKGROUND: The diagnosis of hypertension (HTN)/normotension (NT) on ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) is usually based on systolic (SBP) or diastolic blood pressure (DBP). The goal of this study was to analyze whether inclusion of mean arterial pressure (MAP) improves the detection of HTN on ABPM. METHODS: We retrospectively studied ABPM records in 229 children (116 boys, median age = 15.3 years) who were referred for evaluation of HTN. A diagnosis of HTN was made if: (A) MAP or SBP or DBP was ≥ 1.65 SDS (95th percentile); (B) SBP or DBP was ≥ 1.65 SDS (95th percentile), during 24-h or daytime or night-time in both definitions. RESULTS: Using definition A, 46/229 patients had HTN compared to definition B by which only 37/229 patients had HTN (p = 0.001). The level of agreement between the two definitions was very good (kappa = 0.86 ± 0.04), however nine patients (19.5 %) were missed by not using MAP in the definition of HTN. These nine patients had only mild HTN with a median Z score of 1.69. CONCLUSIONS: The inclusion of MAP in the definition of ambulatory HTN significantly increased the number of hypertensive patients. MAP may be very helpful in detecting mild HTN in patients with normal/borderline SBP and DBP.

• MeSH
• Blood Pressure Monitoring, Ambulatory * MeSH
• Analysis of Variance MeSH
• Arterial Pressure * MeSH
• Time Factors MeSH
• Circadian Rhythm MeSH
• Diastole MeSH
• Hypertension classification   diagnosis   physiopathology   MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Adolescent MeSH
• Predictive Value of Tests MeSH
• Cross-Sectional Studies MeSH
• Retrospective Studies MeSH
• Chi-Square Distribution MeSH
• Systole MeSH
• Terminology as Topic MeSH
• Check Tag
• Humans MeSH
• Adolescent MeSH
• Male MeSH
• Female MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH