Does a higher morning blood pressure surge predict silent and clinical cerebrovascular disease in elderly hypertensives?
Higher morning blood pressure surge is an independent predictor of stroke risk in elderly hypertensive patients, suggesting it as a potential therapeutic target.
In older hypertensives, a higher morning BP surge is associated with stroke risk independently of ambulatory BP, nocturnal BP falls, and silent infarct. Reduction of the MS could thus be a new therapeutic target for preventing target organ damage and subsequent cardiovascular events in hypertensive patients.
Kario et al. (Tue,) studied this question.