Study of Circadian Rhythm of Blood Pressure in Kidney Transplant Recipients During Their First Year

Objective: There is a marked diurnal variation in blood pressure (BP), relative to these values, BP in most subjects is physiologically lower during the night and a no-drop BP profile is usually defined as a fall in blood pressure (BP). Nocturnal PAS less than 10%. A non-dipper circadian pattern is often observed in renal transplant recipients and is linked to poor allograft function. The primary objective of this study is to evaluate nighttime blood pressure variations in patients after kidney transplantation during their first post-operative year. Design and method: In this prospective study, 24-hour ambulatory BP monitoring (ABPM) was performed in 116 post-kidney transplant patients, aged > 18 years, with a serum creatinine level 10%), non-dipper (0 < SBP < 10%) and reverse dipper (SBP nocturnal increase) was defined. Results: We collected 116 kidney transplant patients (mean age 36 years, 66% men, all patients are treated with anti-calcineurins including 54% on Tacrolimus, with a pre-transplant dialysis duration ranging from 2 to 144 months), we note 14 preemptive transplants. The nighttime reduction in SBP pattern among participants with respect to gender was not significant (p = 0.794). The mean age of patients with a non-dipper profile was significantly lower than that of patients with an inverse dipper profile (p = 0.009), but the mean age of patients with a dipper profile was not significantly different from patients with a non-dipper or inverted profile (p = 0.368, p = 0.605). There was no significant correlation between dipper, non-dipper and inverse profile with immunosuppressive drugs (cyclosporin, tacrolimus), duration of dialysis before transplantation and time since transplantation (p = 0.194, p = 0.252 and p = 0.392, respectively). Conclusions: The inverse dipper profile was observed more frequently in older patients than in younger patients, and there was no significant correlation between the dipper, non-dipper, and inverse profile with immunosuppressive drugs, dialysis duration before transplantation and time since transplantation.