Cardiovascular Risk of Essential Hypertension: Influence of Class, Number, and Treatment-Time Regimen of Hypertension Medications

Insight on Cardiac Chronobiology and Latest Developments of Chronotherapeutic Antihypertensive Interventions for Better Clinical Outcomes

Cardiac circadian rhythms are an important regulator of body functions, including cardiac activities and blood pressure. Disturbance of circadian rhythm is known to trigger and aggravate various cardiovascular diseases. Thus, modulating the circadian rhythm can be used as a therapeutic approach to cardiovascular diseases. Through this work, we intend to discuss the current understanding of cardiac circadian rhythms, in terms of quantifiable parameters like BP and HR. We also elaborate on the molecular regulators and the molecular cascades along with their specific genetic aspects involved in modulating circadian rhythms, with specific reference to cardiovascular health and cardiovascular diseases. Along with this, we also presented the latest pharmacogenomic and metabolomics markers involved in chronobiological control of the cardiovascular system along with their possible utility in cardiovascular disease diagnosis and therapeutics. Finally, we reviewed the current expert opinions on chronotherapeutic approaches for utilizing the conventional as well as the new pharmacological molecules for antihypertensive chronotherapy.

Home Blood Pressure Compared With Office Blood Pressure in Relation to Dysglycemia

BACKGROUND

Masked hypertension is more common in individuals with type 2 diabetes than in individuals with normoglycemia. We aimed to explore if there is a discrepancy between office blood pressure (office BP) and home blood pressure monitoring (HBPM) in relation to HbA1c as well as glycemic status in 5,029 middle-aged individuals.

METHODS

HBPM was measured in a subsample of 5,029 participants in The Swedish CardioPulmonary BioImage Study (SCAPIS), a population-based cohort of 50-64 years old participants. Both office BP and HBPM were obtained after 5 minutes' rest using the semiautomatic Omron M10-IT oscillometric device. White coat effect was calculated by subtracting systolic HBPM from systolic office BP. Participants were classified according to glycemic status: Normoglycemia, prediabetes, or diabetes based on fasting glucose, HbA1c value, and self-reported diabetes diagnosis.

RESULTS

Of the included 5,025 participants, 947 (18.8%) had sustained hypertension, 907 (18.0%) reported taking antihypertensive treatment, and 370 (7.4%) had diabetes mellitus. Both systolic office BP and HBPM increased according to worsened glycemic status (P for trend 0.002 and 0.002, respectively). Masked hypertension was more prevalent in participants with dysglycemia compared with normoglycemia (P = 0.036). The systolic white coat effect was reversely associated with HbA1c (P = 0.012).

CONCLUSIONS

The systolic white coat effect was reversely associated with HbA1c, and the prevalence of masked hypertension increased with dysglycemia.

Elevated asleep blood pressure and non-dipper 24h patterning best predict risk for heart failure that can be averted by bedtime hypertension chronotherapy: A review of the published literature

Several prospective studies consistently report elevated asleep blood pressure (BP) and blunted sleep-time relative systolic BP (SBP) decline (non-dipping) are jointly the most significant prognostic markers of cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk, including heart failure (HF); therefore, they, rather than office BP measurements (OBPM) and ambulatory awake and 24 h BP means, seemingly are the most worthy therapeutic targets for prevention. Published studies of the 24 h BP pattern in HF are sparse in number and of limited sample size. They report high prevalence of the abnormal non-dipper/riser 24 h SBP patterning. Despite the established clinical relevance of the asleep BP, past as do present hypertension guidelines recommend the diagnosis of hypertension rely on OBPM and, when around-the-clock ambulatory BP monitoring (ABPM) is conducted to confirm the elevated OBPM, either on the derived 24 h or "daytime" BP means. Additionally, hypertension guidelines do not advise the time-of-day when BP-lowering medications should be ingested, in spite of known ingestion-time differences in their pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics. Between 1976 and 2020, 155 unique trials of ingestion-time differences in the effects of 37 different single and 14 dual-combination hypertension medications, collectively involving 23,972 patients, were published. The vast majority (83.9%) of them found the at-bedtime/evening in comparison to upon-waking/morning treatment schedule resulted in more greatly enhanced: (i) reduction of asleep BP mean without induced sleep-time hypotension; (ii) reduction of the prevalence of the higher CVD risk non-dipper/riser 24 h BP phenotypes; (iii) improvement of kidney function, reduction of cardiac pathology, and with lower incidence of adverse effects. Most notably, no single published randomized trial found significantly better BP-lowering, particularly during sleep, or medical benefits of the most popular upon-waking/morning hypertension treatment-time scheme. Additionally, prospective outcome trials have substantiated that the bedtime relative to the upon-waking, ingestion of BP-lowering medications not only significantly reduces risk of HF but also improves overall CVD event-free survival time.

Influence of elevated sleep-time blood pressure on vascular risk and hypertension-mediated organ damage

We report the analysis of 252 hypertensive patients whose blood pressure (BP) was assessed by around-the-clock ambulatory BP monitoring compared to office BP measurement during a follow-up investigation of 8.7 y (SD: 2.43 y) that evaluated the added value of measuring sleep-time BP values. We found that 37.3% of the patients had mismatched diagnoses between the two techniques of BP assessment, with 11.5% of the patients showing white-coat hypertension and 25.8% masked hypertension. Only 12.3% of the diagnosed and treated patients presented normal BP values. Nocturnal (sleep-time) hypertension was present in 70.63%. The sleep-time systolic BP mean was found to be an independent vascular risk factor (F = 9.005, p < .001), indirectly measured through the 10-year risk of morbidity and mortality. Additionally, the elevated sleep-time systolic BP mean was a better marker of subclinical hypertension-mediated organ damage (ρ = 0.19, p < .01) than either the awake (ρ = 0.168, p < .01) or 24 (ρ = 0.184, p < .01) systolic BP means. In conclusion, the accuracy and sleep-time measurements provided by ambulatory BP make it particularly relevant in hypertension diagnosis and management. The use of the ambulatory BP measurement method could end up modifying current therapeutic targets, with sleep-time systolic BP mean becoming a main one, in order to optimize hypertension control and reduce hypertension-related organ pathology and cardiovascular disease morbidity and mortality.

Chronotherapy for reduction of cardiovascular risk

Numerous prospective studies establish that elevated asleep blood pressure (BP) constitutes a significant cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factor, irrespective of daytime office BP measurements or awake and 24h BP measurements. Moreover, except for a small number of studies with flawed methodology, multiple clinical trials of high consistency document significantly better BP-lowering efficacy of hypertension medication and their combinations when ingested at bedtime compared to upon awakening as is customary. Additionally, recent trials conclude bedtime hypertension chronotherapy markedly reduces CVD risk not only in the general population, but also in more vulnerable patients of advanced age, with kidney disease, diabetes, or resistant hypertension. Collectively, these results call for a new definition of true arterial hypertension and its proper diagnosis and management.

New perspectives on the definition, diagnosis, and treatment of true arterial hypertension

INTRODUCTION

Office blood pressure measurements (OBPM), still used today for diagnosis and management of hypertension, fail to reveal clinically important features of the mostly predictable blood pressure (BP) 24 h pattern, and lead to >45% of individuals being misclassified. Current hypertension guidelines do not provide recommendation on when-to-treat, despite multiple prospective clinical trials documenting improved normalization of 24 h BP pattern and significant reduction in cardiovascular disease (CVD) events when hypertension medications are ingested at bedtime rather than upon waking.

AREAS COVERED

In this review, the authors discuss current evidence on the: (i) most relevant attributes of the 24 h BP pattern deterministic of CVD risk; (ii) asleep systolic BP (SBP) mean as the most significant therapeutic target for CVD risk reduction; (iii) ingestion-time differences in pharmacodynamics of BP-lowering medications as reported with high consistency in multiple clinical trials; and (iv) enhanced prevention of CVD events achieved by bedtime hypertension chronotherapy.

EXPERT OPINION

Several prospective trials consistently document asleep SBP mean and sleep-time relative SBP decline (dipping) constitute highly significant CVD risk factors, independent of OBPM. Bedtime, compared to customary upon-waking, hypertension chronotherapy reduces risk of major CVD events. Collectively, these findings call for new definition of true hypertension and, accordingly, its proper diagnosis and management.

Hypertension: New perspective on its definition and clinical management by bedtime therapy substantially reduces cardiovascular disease risk

Diagnosis of hypertension-elevated blood pressure (BP) associated with increased cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk-and its management for decades have been based primarily on single time-of-day office BP measurements (OBPM) assumed representative of systolic (SBP) and diastolic BP (DBP) during the entire 24-hours span. Around-the-clock ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM), however, reveals BP undergoes 24-hours patterning characterized in normotensives and uncomplicated hypertensives by striking morning-time rise, 2 daytime peaks-one ~2-3 hours after awakening and the other early evening, small midafternoon nadir and 10-20% decline (BP dipping) in the asleep BP mean relative to the wake-time BP mean. A growing number of outcome trials substantiate correlation between BP and target organ damage, vascular and other risks is greater for the ABPM-derived asleep BP mean, independent and stronger predictor of CVD risk, than daytime OBPM or ABPM-derived awake BP. Additionally, bedtime hypertension chronotherapy, that is, ingestion of ≥1 conventional hypertension medications at bedtime to achieve efficient attenuation of asleep BP, better reduces total CVD events by 61% and major events (CVD death, myocardial infarction, ischaemic and haemorrhagic stroke) by 67%-even in more vulnerable chronic kidney disease, diabetes and resistant hypertension patients-than customary on-awaking therapy that targets wake-time BP. Such findings of around-the-clock ABPM and bedtime hypertension outcome trials, consistently indicating greater importance of asleep BP than daytime OBPM or ambulatory awake BP, call for a new definition of true arterial hypertension plus modern approaches for its diagnosis and management.

Bedtime Chronotherapy with Conventional Hypertension Medications to Target Increased Asleep Blood Pressure Results in Markedly Better Chronoprevention of Cardiovascular and Other Risks than Customary On-awakening Therapy

The bases for bedtime hypertension chronotherapy (BHCT) as superior chronoprevention against cardiovascular disease (CVD) are: (1) correlation between blood pressure (BP) and various risks is greater for ambulatory BP monitoring (ABPM) than office BP measurements (OBPM); (2) asleep BP mean is a better predictor of CVD risk than ABPM awake and 24-hour means and OBPM; and (3) targeting of asleep BP by BHCT with one or more conventional medications versus usual on-awakening therapy better reduces major and total CVD events. BHCT offers the most cost-effective chronoprevention against adverse CVD outcomes in regular and vulnerable renal, diabetic, and resistant hypertensive patients.

Circadian disruption: New clinical perspective of disease pathology and basis for chronotherapeutic intervention

Biological processes are organized in time as innate rhythms defined by the period (τ), phase (peak [Φ] and trough time), amplitude (A, peak-trough difference) and mean level. The human time structure in its entirety is comprised of ultradian (τ < 20 h), circadian (20 h > τ < 28 h) and infradian (τ > 28 h) bioperiodicities. The circadian time structure (CTS) of human beings, which is more complicated than in lower animals, is orchestrated and staged by a brain central multioscillator system that includes a prominent pacemaker - the suprachiasmatic nuclei of the hypothalamus. Additional pacemaker activities are provided by the pineal hormone melatonin, which circulates during the nighttime, and the left and right cerebral cortices. Under ordinary circumstances this system coordinates the τ and Φ of rhythms driven by subservient peripheral cell, tissue and organ clock networks. Cyclic environmental, feeding and social time cues synchronize the endogenous 24 h clocks and rhythms. Accordingly, processes and functions of the internal environment are integrated in time for maximum biological efficiency, and they are also organized and synchronized in time to the external environment to ensure optimal performance and response to challenge. Artificial light at night (ALAN) exposure can alter the CTS as can night work, which, like rapid transmeridian displacement by air travel, necessitates realignment of the Φ of the multitude of 24 h rhythms. In 2001, Stevens and Rea coined the phrase "circadian disruption" (CD) to label the CTS misalignment induced by ALAN and shift work (SW) as a potential pathologic mechanism of the increased risk for cancer and other medical conditions. Current concerns relating to the effects of ALAN exposure on the CTS motivated us to renew our long-standing interest in the possible role of CD in the etiopathology of common human diseases and patient care. A surprisingly large number of medical conditions involve CD: adrenal insufficiency; nocturia; sleep-time non-dipping and rising blood pressure 24 h patterns (nocturnal hypertension); delayed sleep phase syndrome, non-24 h sleep/wake disorder; recurrent hypersomnia; SW intolerance; delirium; peptic ulcer disease; kidney failure; depression; mania; bipolar disorder; Parkinson's disease; Smith-Magenis syndrome; fatal familial insomnia syndrome; autism spectrum disorder; asthma; byssinosis; cancers; hand, foot and mouth disease; post-operative state; and ICU outcome. Poorly conceived medical interventions, for example nighttime dosing of synthetic corticosteroids and certain β-antagonists and cyclic nocturnal enteral or parenteral nutrition, plus lifestyle habits, including atypical eating times and chronic alcohol consumption, also can be causal of CD. Just as surprisingly are the many proven chronotherapeutic strategies available today to manage the CD of several of these medical conditions. In clinical medicine, CD seems to be a common, yet mostly unrecognized, pathologic mechanism of human disease as are the many effective chronotherapeutic interventions to remedy it.

Sleep-time ambulatory blood pressure as a prognostic marker of vascular and other risks and therapeutic target for prevention by hypertension chronotherapy: Rationale and design of the Hygia Project

This article describes the rationale, objectives, design and conduct of the ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM)-based Hygia Project. Given the substantial evidence of the significantly better prognostic value of ABPM compared to clinic BP measurements, several international guidelines now propose ABPM as a requirement to confirm the office diagnosis of hypertension. Nonetheless, all previous ABPM outcome investigations, except the Monitorización Ambulatoria para Predicción de Eventos Cardiovasculares study (MAPEC) study, relied upon only a single, low-reproducible 24 h ABPM assessment per participant done at study inclusion, thus precluding the opportunity to explore the potential reduction in cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk associated with modification of prognostic ABPM-derived parameters by hypertension therapy. The findings of the single-center MAPEC study, based upon periodic systematic 48 h ABPM evaluation of all participants during a median follow-up of 5.6 years, constitute the first proof-of-concept evidence that the progressive reduction of the asleep systolic blood pressure (SBP) mean and correction of the sleep-time relative SBP decline toward the normal dipper BP profile, most efficiently accomplished by a bedtime hypertension treatment strategy, best attenuates the risk of CVD, stroke and development of new-onset diabetes. The Hygia Project, primarily designed to extend the use of ABPM in primary care as a requirement for diagnosis of hypertension, evaluation of response to treatment and individualized assessment of CVD and other risks, is a research network presently composed of 40 clinical sites and 292 investigators. Its main objectives are to (i) investigate whether specific treatment-induced changes in ABPM-derived parameters reduce risk of CVD events, stroke, new-onset diabetes and/or development of chronic kidney disease (CKD); and (ii) test the hypothesis that bedtime chronotherapy entailing the entire daily dose of ≥1 conventional hypertension medications exerts better ambulatory BP control and CVD, metabolic and renal risk reduction than all such medications ingested in the morning upon awakening. Between 2007 and 2015, investigators recruited 18 078 persons [9769 men/8309 women, 59.1 ± 14.3 years of age (mean ± SD)], including 15 764 with hypertension according to ABPM criteria as participants in the prospective randomized chronotherapy trial. The initial evaluation includes 48 h ABPM, detailed medical history and screening laboratory blood and urine tests. The same evaluation procedure is scheduled annually, or more frequently when treatment adjustment is required for proper ambulatory BP control, targeting a median follow-up of >5 years. The primary CVD outcome end point is the composite of CVD death, myocardial infarction, coronary revascularization, heart failure, ischemic stroke and hemorrhagic stroke. The independent Hygia Project Events Committee periodically evaluates blinded clinical reports to ascertain and certify every documented event. Beyond the potential findings resulting from testing the main hypotheses, the Hygia Project has already demonstrated, as proof of concept, that the routine diagnosis of hypertension and individualized assessment of CVD and other risks by ABPM, as currently recommended, is fully viable in the primary care setting, where most people with either hypertension, dyslipidemia, type 2 diabetes or CKD receive routine medical attention.

Bedtime ingestion of hypertension medications reduces the risk of new-onset type 2 diabetes: a randomised controlled trial

AIMS/HYPOTHESIS

We investigated whether therapy with the entire daily dose of ≥ 1 hypertension medications at bedtime exerts greater reduction in the risk of new-onset diabetes than therapy with all medications upon awakening.

METHODS

We conducted a prospective, randomised, open-label, blinded endpoint trial of 2,012 hypertensive patients without diabetes, 976 men and 1,036 women, 52.7 ± 13.6 years of age. Patients were randomised, using a computer-generated allocation table, to ingest all their prescribed hypertension medications upon awakening or the entire daily dose of ≥ 1 of them at bedtime. Investigators blinded to the hypertension treatment scheme of the patients assessed the development of new-onset diabetes.

RESULTS

During a 5.9-year median follow-up, 171 participants developed type 2 diabetes. Patients of the bedtime, compared with the morning-treatment group, showed: (1) significantly lower asleep BP mean, greater sleep-time relative BP decline and attenuated prevalence of non-dipping at the final evaluation (32% vs 52%, p < 0.001); and (2) significantly lower HR of new-onset diabetes after adjustment for the significant influential characteristics of fasting glucose, waist circumference, asleep systolic BP mean, dipping classification and chronic kidney disease (CKD) (unadjusted HR 0.41 [95% CI 0.29, 0.58]; adjusted HR 0.43 [0.31, 0.61]; event-rate 4.8% vs 12.1% with bedtime and morning treatment, respectively; p < 0.001). Greater benefit was observed for bedtime compared with awakening treatment with angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) (HR 0.39 [0.22, 0.69]; p < 0.001), ACE inhibitors (0.31 [0.12, 0.79], p = 0.015) and β-blockers (0.35 [0.14, 0.85], p = 0.021).

CONCLUSIONS/INTERPRETATION

In hypertensive patients without diabetes, ingestion of ≥ 1 BP-lowering medications at bedtime, mainly those modulating or blocking the effects of angiotensin II, compared with ingestion of all such medications upon awakening, results in improved ambulatory BP (ABP) control (significant further decrease of asleep BP) and reduced risk of new-onset diabetes.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00295542.

FUNDING

This independent investigator-promoted research was supported by unrestricted grants from Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (SAF2006-6254-FEDER; SAF2009-7028-FEDER); Xunta de Galicia (PGIDIT03-PXIB-32201PR; INCITE07-PXI-322003ES; INCITE08-E1R-322063ES; INCITE09-E2R-322099ES; 09CSA018322PR); and Vicerrectorado de Investigación, University of Vigo.

Chronotherapy with conventional blood pressure medications improves management of hypertension and reduces cardiovascular and stroke risks

Correlation between blood pressure (BP) and target organ damage, vascular risk and long-term patient prognosis is greater for measurements derived from around-the-clock ambulatory BP monitoring than in-clinic daytime ones. Numerous studies consistently substantiate the asleep BP mean is both an independent and a much better predictor of cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk than either the awake or 24 h means. Sleep-time hypertension is much more prevalent than suspected, not only in patients with sleep disorders, but also among those who are elderly or have type 2 diabetes, chronic kidney disease or resistant hypertension. Hence, cost-effective adequate control of sleep-time BP is of marked clinical relevance. Ingestion time, according to circadian rhythms, of hypertension medications of six different classes and their combinations significantly affects BP control, particularly sleep-time BP, and adverse effects. For example, because the high-amplitude circadian rhythm of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system activates during nighttime sleep, bedtime vs. morning ingestion of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors and angiotensin receptor blockers better reduces the asleep BP mean, with additional benefit, independent of medication terminal half-life, of converting the 24 h BP profile into more normal dipper patterning. The MAPEC (Monitorización Ambulatoria para Predicción de Eventos Cardiovasculares) study, first prospective randomized treatment-time investigation designed to test the worthiness of bedtime chronotherapy with ⩾1 conventional hypertension medications so as to specifically target attenuation of asleep BP, demonstrated, relative to conventional morning therapy, 61% reduction of total CVD events and 67% decrease of major CVD events, that is, CVD death, myocardial infarction, and ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke. The MAPEC study, along with other earlier conducted less refined trials, documents the asleep BP mean is the most significant prognostic marker of CVD morbidity and mortality; moreover, it substantiates attenuation of the asleep BP mean by a bedtime hypertension treatment strategy entailing the entire daily dose of ⩾1 hypertension medications significantly reduces CVD risk in both general and more vulnerable hypertensive patients, that is, those diagnosed with chronic kidney disease, diabetes and resistant hypertension.

Chronotherapy in practice: the perspective of the community pharmacist

BACKGROUND

Optimising the time of drug administration in alignment with circadian rhythms to enhance the clinical effect or minimise/avoid adverse effects is referred to as chronotherapy. Pharmacists have a key role in providing medicine related information, including counselling about the optimal time for medication administration. Where applicable, the principles of chronotherapy should underlie this aspect of medication counselling. Despite significant developments in the science of chronotherapy for specific pharmacological treatments, the perspective of pharmacists about their understanding and application of these principles in practice has not been explored.

OBJECTIVE

To explore community pharmacist's viewpoints about and experience with the application of chronotherapy principles in practice.

SETTING

Community pharmacies within metropolitan Sydney in New South Wales, Australia.

METHODS

Semi-structured, face to face interviews with a convenience sample of community pharmacists were conducted. All interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim and thematically analyzed using a 'grounded theory' approach, given the novelty of this area. Main outcome measure Community pharmacists' awareness, current practice and future practice support requirements about the principles of chronotherapy.

RESULTS

Twenty-five semi-structured interviews were conducted. Most participants reported encountering cases where clinical decision making about suggesting appropriate times of drug administration to patients was needed. Their approach was mainly pragmatic rather than based on theoretical principles of circadian variation in drug disposition or on current or emerging evidence; thus there was an evidence practice chasm in some cases. However, most participants believed they have an important role to play in counselling patients about optimal administration times and were willing to enact such roles or acquire skills/competence in this area.

CONCLUSION

Community pharmacists contribute to the safe and effective use of medications in providing the patients with information on optimal timing of drug administration during counselling. Further education, practical training and access to information may help pharmacists in translating principles of chronotherapy into the practice.

Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitoring (ABPM) as the reference standard for diagnosis of hypertension and assessment of vascular risk in adults

New information has become available since the ISC, AAMCC, and SECAC released their first extensive guidedelines to improve the diagnosis and treatment of adult arterial hypertension. A critical assessment of evidence and a comparison of what international guidelines now propose are the basis for the following statements, which update the recommendations first issued in 2013. Office blood pressure (BP) measurements should no longer be considered to be the "gold standard" for the diagnosis of hypertension and assessment of cardiovascular risk. Relying on office BP, even when supplemented with at-home wake-time self-measurements, to identify high-risk individuals, disregarding circadian BP patterning and asleep BP level, leads to potential misclassification of 50% of all evaluated persons. Accordingly, ambulatory BP monitoring is the recommended reference standard for the diagnosis of true hypertension and accurate assessment of cardiovascular risk in all adults ≥18 yrs of age, regardless of whether office BP is normal or elevated. Asleep systolic BP mean is the most significant independent predictor of cardiovascular events. The sleep-time relative SBP decline adds prognostic value to the statistical model that already includes the asleep systolic BP mean and corrected for relevant confounding variables. Accordingly, the asleep systolic BP mean is the recommended protocol to diagnose hypertension, assess cardiovascular risk, and predict cardiovascular event-free interval. In men, and in the absence of compelling clinical conditions, reference thresholds for diagnosing hypertension are 120/70 mmHg for the asleep systolic/diastolic BP means derived from ambulatory BP monitoring. However, in women, in the absence of complicating co-morbidities, the same thresholds are lower by 10/5 mmHg, i.e., 110/65 mmHg for the asleep means. In high-risk patients, including those diagnosed with diabetes or chronic kidney disease, and/or those having experienced past cardiovascular events, the thresholds are even lower by 15/10 mmHg, i.e., 105/60 mmHg. Bedtime treatment with the full daily dose of ≥1 hypertension medications is recommended as a cost-effective means to improve the management of hypertension and reduce hypertension-associated risk. Bedtime treatment entailing the full daily dose of ≥1 conventional hypertension medications must be the therapeutic regimen of choice for the elderly and those with diabetes, resistant and secondary hypertension, chronic kidney disease, obstructive sleep apnea, and medical history of past cardiovascular events, among others, given their documented high prevalence of sleep-time hypertension.

Ambulatory blood pressure monitoring in diabetes for the assessment and control of vascular risk

The diagnosis of hypertension and the clinical decisions regarding its treatment are usually based on daytime clinic blood pressure (BP) measurements. However, the correlation between BP levels and target organ damage, cardiovascular (CV) risk, and long-term prognosis, is higher for ambulatory (ABPM) than clinic measurements, both in the general population as well as in patients with diabetes. Moreover, there is consistent evidence in numerous studies that the asleep BP better predicts CV events than either the awake or 24h means. The prevalence of abnormal BP pattern and sleep-time hypertension is extensive in diabetes, often leading to inaccurate diagnoses of hypertension and its therapeutic control in the absence of complete and careful assessment of the entire 24h, i.e., daytime and night-time, BP pattern. Accordingly, ABPM should be the preferred method to comprehensively assess and decide the optimal clinical management of patients with diabetes directed to properly reduce elevated sleep-time BP, which might also lead to a significant reduction of CV events.

Personalized hypertension management in practice

The revolution occurring in genomic and personalized medicine is likely to have a significant impact on the management of hypertension. However, from the perspective of translating new knowledge into clinical practice, progress has been slow. This review article summarizes recent advances in hypertension-related diagnostics while also offering new perspective on hypertension management for the future. Such new perspectives will likely require a paradigm shift toward more integrated and holistic approaches for better prevention and treatment of hypertension in both individuals and the population as a whole.

Examining the Risk Factors Associated With Hypertension Among the Elderly in Ghana

OBJECTIVE

This study sought to examine the risk factors associated with hypertension among the elderly in Ghana. We focused on the association between chronic diseases, socioeconomic factors, and being hypertensive.

METHOD

Data for the study were drawn from Wave 1 of the 2007/2008 Ghana Study on Global Ageing and Adult Health (SAGE). A binary logit model was used to estimate the effect of other noncommunicable diseases, psychosocial factors, lifestyle factors, and sociocultural and biosocial factors on the elderly being hypertensive.

RESULTS

Elderly Ghanaians who had been diagnosed with arthritis, angina, diabetes, and asthma were significantly more likely to be hypertensive. Additionally, those depressed were found to be 1.22 times more likely to be hypertensive.

DISCUSSION

Prevention and control of hypertension are complex and demand multistakeholder collaboration including governments, educational institutions, media, food and beverage industry, and a conscious focus on personal lifestyle factors.

Endothelial function in postmenopausal women with nighttime systolic hypertension

OBJECTIVE

Hypertension becomes more prevalent in women during their postmenopausal years. Nighttime systolic blood pressure (SBP) is especially predictive of adverse cardiac events, and the relationship between rising nighttime SBP and cardiovascular risk increases more rapidly in women compared with men. The reasons for the prognostic significance of nighttime SBP are not completely known but may involve vascular endothelial dysfunction. The purposes of this study were to examine the relationship between nighttime SBP and endothelial function, as assessed by brachial artery flow-mediated dilation (FMD), and to determine whether postmenopausal women with nighttime hypertension (SBP ≥120 mm Hg) evidenced greater endothelial dysfunction compared with women with normal nighttime SBP.

METHODS

One hundred postmenopausal women (mean [SD] age, 65.8 [7.5] y; mean [SD] body mass index, 28.3 [4.7] kg/m; hypertension, 47%; coronary artery disease, 51%; mean [SD] clinic SBP, 137 [17] mm Hg; mean [SD] clinic diastolic blood pressure, 67 [11] mm Hg; nighttime hypertension, 34 women) underwent 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure monitoring, actigraphy, and brachial artery FMD assessment.

RESULTS

Multivariate regression models showed that higher nighttime SBP and larger baseline artery diameter were inversely related to FMD. Nighttime SBP and baseline artery diameter accounted for 23% of the variance in FMD. After adjustment for baseline artery diameter, women with nighttime hypertension had lower mean (SD) FMD than women with normal nighttime SBP (2.95% [0.65%] vs 5.52% [0.46%], P = 0.002).

CONCLUSIONS

Nighttime hypertension is associated with reduced endothelial function in postmenopausal women. Research examining the therapeutic benefits of nighttime hypertension treatment on endothelial function and future cardiovascular risk in postmenopausal women is warranted.

Treatment of hypertension with chronotherapy: is it time of drug administration?

OBJECTIVE

To review evidence for dosing antihypertensives at bedtime and possible cardiovascular risk reduction.

DATA SOURCES

A PubMed, EMBASE, and Cochrane Controlled Trials database literature search (1990-September 2014) limited to human subjects was performed using the search terms hypertension, chronotherapy, ambulatory blood pressure, morning administration, evening administration, and antihypertensives. Additional references were identified from literature citations.

STUDY SELECTION

All prospective studies assessing cardiovascular outcomes or comparing morning to evening administration of antihypertensives were selected.

DATA SYNTHESIS

Compared with morning administration, dosing one or more antihypertensive medications at bedtime helps induce a normal circadian blood pressure pattern and reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease morbidity and mortality in individuals with hypertension. Similar results have been reported in high-risk individuals with diabetes, chronic kidney disease, and resistant hypertension. A lack of diversity among studied populations and reliance on subgroup analyses are among the limitations of these data. All antihypertensive medications have not been studied in chronotherapy and do not uniformly achieve desired results. The most substantial evidence exists for medications affecting the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system.

CONCLUSIONS

Despite growing evidence and promise as a cost-effective strategy for reducing cardiovascular risk, chronotherapy is not uniformly recommended in the treatment of hypertension. Careful selection of patients and antihypertensives for chronotherapy is required. Further investigation is needed to evaluate the definitive impact of chronotherapy on cardiovascular outcomes.

The effect of continuous nursing intervention guided by chronotherapeutics on ambulatory blood pressure of older hypertensive patients in the community

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

To explore the effect of continuous nursing intervention guided by chronotherapeutics so as to provide the easy, noninvasive, effective and acceptable intervention for older hypertensive patients in the community.

BACKGROUND

Many researchers studied the effect of administration at different times on blood pressure control and circadian rhythm. However, the individual administrative time was set ambiguously in previous studies.

DESIGN

A semi-experimental study.

METHODS

In the study, 90 eligible patients were recruited and separated into three groups randomly, which were the control group, intervention group A (behaviour and chronotherapy intervention) and intervention group B (behaviour intervention). At 6 and 12 months after the study, the intervention groups were measured 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure monitoring.

RESULTS

There were significant differences in ambulatory blood pressure monitoring parameters of the two intervention groups at different measurement times, and there were interaction between measurement time and different groups. The number of patients with dipper increased and reverse dipper decreased in group A as the intervention applied. There were statistical differences between two groups. The number of patients with morning surge in group A decreased more, and there were statistical differences between two groups at six months after the intervention.

CONCLUSIONS

The behaviour and chronotherapy intervention based on the patients' ambulatory blood pressure monitoring can control casual blood pressure much better and last longer, which can also improve patients' indexes of ambulatory blood pressure monitoring better than behaviour intervention only. The behaviour and chronotherapy intervention can increase patients' nocturnal blood pressure drop, increase the number of patients with dipper and decrease reverse dipper, and improve blood pressure surge in the morning.

RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE

Nurses can use continuous nursing intervention guided by chronotherapeutics to help improve hypertension of older patients better in the community.

Diuretics: a review and update

Diuretics have been recommended as first-line treatment of hypertension and are also valuable in the management of hypervolemia and electrolyte disorders. This review summarizes the key features of the most commonly used diuretics. We then provide an update of clinical trials for diuretics during the past 5 years. Compared to other classes of medications, thiazide diuretics are at least as effective in reducing cardiovascular events (CVEs) in patients with hypertension and are more effective than β-blockers and angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors in reducing stroke. Observational cohort data and a network analysis have shown that CVEs are lowered by one-fifth from chlorthalidone when compared to the commonly used thiazide, hydrochlorothiazide. Relative to placebo, chlorthalidone increases life expectancy. In those aged 80 years and older, the diuretic, indapamide, lowers CVEs relative to placebo. The aldosterone antagonist, eplerenone, lowers total mortality in early congestive heart failure. The benefit of eplerenone following acute myocardial infarction (MI) is limited to administration within 3 to 6 days post-MI. Aldosterone antagonists have been shown to lower the incidence of sudden cardiac death and to reduce proteinuria. In the setting of heart failure, long acting loop diuretics azosemide and torasemide are more effective in improving heart failure outcomes than the far more commonly used short acting furosemide. Evening dosing of diuretics appears to lower CVEs relative to morning dosing. In conclusion, diuretics are a diverse class of drugs that remain extremely important in the management of hypertension and hypervolemic states.

Optimising the accuracy of blood pressure monitoring in chronic kidney disease: the utility of BpTRU

BACKGROUND

Accurate blood pressure monitoring is critical for the management of chronic kidney disease, but changes in management in secondary care clinics may be based on a single blood pressure reading, with a subsequent lack of accuracy. The aim of this study was to evaluate a fully automated sphygmomanometer for optimising the accuracy of blood pressure measurements in the setting of secondary care renal clinics.

METHODS

Patients had routine blood pressure measurements with a calibrated DINAMAP PRO400 monitor in a clinical assessment room. Patients then underwent repeat assessment with a DINAMAP PRO400 monitor and BpTRU device and subsequent 24 hour ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM).

RESULTS

The BpTRU systolic (± SD) reading (117.3 ± 14.1 mmHg) was significantly lower than the routine clinic mean systolic blood pressure (143.8 ± 15.5 mmHg; P < 0.001) and the repeat blood pressure taken with a DINAMAP PRO400 monitor in a quiet room (129.9 ± 19.9 mmHg; P < 0.001). The routine clinic mean diastolic (82.4 ± 11.2 mmHg) was significantly higher than the BpTRU reading (78.4 ± 10.0 mmHg; P < 0.001). Clinic BpTRU measurements were not significantly different to the daytime mean or overall mean of 24 hour ABPM.

CONCLUSIONS

In patients with CKD, routine clinic blood pressure measurements were significantly higher than measurements using a BpTRU machine in a quiet room, but there was no significant difference in this setting between BpTRU readings and 24 hour ABPM. Adjusting clinic protocols to utilise the most accurate blood pressure technique available is a simple manoeuvre that could deliver major improvements in clinical practice.

Abnormalities in chronic kidney disease of ambulatory blood pressure 24 h patterning and normalization by bedtime hypertension chronotherapy

In chronic kidney disease (CKD), the prevalence of hypertension is very high, escalating with diminishing renal function. Typically, the diagnosis of hypertension and the clinical decisions regarding its treatment are based on daytime clinic blood pressure (BP) measurements. However, the correlation between BP level and target organ damage, cardiovascular risk and long-term prognosis is greater for ambulatory than clinic measurements. Moreover, evidence is consistent among numerous studies that the elevated risk and incidence of end-organ injury and fatal and non-fatal cardiovascular events are significantly associated with blunted night-time BP decline, and that the asleep BP better predicts cardiovascular events than either the awake or 24-h BP mean. The prevalence of abnormally high asleep BP is extensive in CKD, significantly increasing with its severity. In CKD, the diagnoses of hypertension and its therapeutic control are often inaccurate in the absence of complete and careful assessment of the entire 24 h, i.e. daytime and night-time, BP pattern. Accordingly, ambulatory BP monitoring should be the preferred method to comprehensively assess and decide the optimal clinical management of patients with CKD. Recent findings indicate therapeutic restoration of normal physiologic BP reduction during night-time sleep is the most significant independent predictor of decreased cardiovascular and cerebrovascular risk, both in patients with and without CKD, and is best achieved when antihypertensive medications, mainly those blocking the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system, are routinely taken at bedtime.

Circadian pattern of ambulatory blood pressure in hypertensive patients with and without type 2 diabetes

There is strong association between diabetes and increased risk of end-organ damage, stroke, and cardiovascular disease (CVD) morbidity and mortality. Non-dipping (<10% decline in the asleep relative to awake blood pressure [BP] mean), as determined by ambulatory BP monitoring (ABPM), is frequent in diabetes and consistently associated with increased CVD risk. The reported prevalence of non-dipping in diabetes is highly variable, probably due to differences in the study groups (normotensive subjects, untreated hypertensives, treated hypertensives), relatively small sample sizes, reliance only on a single, low-reproducibility, 24-h ABPM evaluation per participant, and definition of daytime and nighttime periods by arbitrary selected fixed clock-hour spans. Accordingly, we evaluated the influence of diabetes on the circadian BP pattern by 48-h ABPM (rather than for 24 h to increase reproducibility of results) during which participants maintained a diary listing times of going to bed at night and awakening in the morning. This cross-sectional study involved 12 765 hypertensive patients (6797 men/5968 women), 58.1 ± 14.1 (mean ± SD) yrs of age, enrolled in the Hygia Project, designed to evaluate prospectively CVD risk by ABPM in primary care centers of northwest Spain. Among the participants, 2954 (1799 men/1155 women) had type 2 diabetes. At the time of study, 525/3314 patients with/without diabetes were untreated for hypertension, and the remaining 2429/6497 patients with/without diabetes were treated. Hypertension was defined as awake systolic (SBP)/diastolic (DBP) BP mean ≥135/85 mm Hg, or asleep SBP/DBP mean ≥120/70 mm Hg, or BP-lowering treatment. Hypertensive patients with than without diabetes were more likely to be men and of older age, have diagnoses of microalbuminuria, proteinuria, chronic kidney disease, obstructive sleep apnea, metabolic syndrome, and/or obesity, plus higher glucose, creatinine, uric acid, and triglycerides, but lower cholesterol and estimated glomerular filtration rate. In patients with diabetes, ambulatory SBP was significantly elevated (p < .001), mainly during the hours of nighttime sleep and initial hours after morning awakening, independent of presence/absence of BP-lowering treatment. Ambulatory DBP, however, was significantly higher (p < .001) in patients without diabetes, mainly during the daytime. Differing trends for SBP and DBP between groups resulted in large differences in ambulatory pulse pressure (PP), it being significantly greater (p < .001) throughout the entire 24 h in patients with diabetes, even after correcting for age. Prevalence of non-dipping was significantly higher in patients with than without diabetes (62.1% vs. 45.9%; p < .001). Largest difference between groups was in the prevalence of the riser BP pattern, i.e., asleep SBP mean greater than awake SBP mean (19.9% vs. 8.1% in patients with and without diabetes, respectively; p < .001). Elevated asleep SBP mean was the major basis for the diagnosis of hypertension and/or inadequate BP control among patients with diabetes; thus, among the uncontrolled hypertensive patients with diabetes, 89.2% had nocturnal hypertension. Our findings document significantly elevated prevalence of a blunted nocturnal BP decline in hypertensive patients with diabetes. Most important, prevalence of the riser BP pattern, associated with highest CVD risk among all possible BP patterns, was more than twice as prevalent in diabetes. Patients with diabetes also presented significantly elevated ambulatory PP, reflecting increased arterial stiffness and enhanced CVD risk. These collective findings indicate that diabetes should be included among the clinical conditions for which ABPM is recommended for proper CVD risk assessment.

Dipper and non-dipper blood pressure 24-hour patterns: circadian rhythm-dependent physiologic and pathophysiologic mechanisms

Neuroendocrine mechanisms are major determinants of the normal 24-h blood pressure (BP) pattern. At the central level, integration of the major driving factors of this temporal variability is mediated by circadian rhythms of monoaminergic systems in conjunction with those of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal, hypothalamic-pituitary-thyroid, opioid, renin-angiotensin-aldosterone, plus endothelial systems and specific vasoactive peptides. Humoral secretions are typically episodic, coupled either to sleep and/or the circadian endogenous (suprachiasmatic nucleus) central pacemaker clock, but exhibiting also weekly, monthly, seasonal, and annual periodicities. Sleep induction and arousal are influenced also by many hormones and chemical substances that exhibit 24-h variation, e.g., arginine vasopressin, vasoactive intestinal peptide, melatonin, somatotropin, insulin, steroids, serotonin, corticotropin-releasing factor, adrenocorticotropic hormone, thyrotropin-releasing hormone, endogenous opioids, and prostaglandin E2, all with established effects on the cardiovascular system. As a consequence, physical, mental, and pathologic stimuli that activate or inhibit neuroendocrine effectors of biological rhythmicity may also interfere with, or modify, the temporal BP structure. Moreover, immediate adjustment to exogenous components/environment demands by BP rhythms is modulated by the circadian-time-dependent responsiveness of biological oscillators and their neuroendocrine effectors. This knowledge contributes to a better understanding of the pathophysiology of abnormalities of the 24-h BP pattern and level and their correction through circadian rhythm-based chronotherapeutic strategies.

Twenty-four-hour patterns in occurrence and pathophysiology of acute cardiovascular events and ischemic heart disease

The scientific literature clearly establishes the occurrence of cardiovascular (CV) accidents and myocardial ischemic episodes is unevenly distributed during the 24 h. Such temporal patterns result from corresponding temporal variation in pathophysiologic mechanisms and cyclic environmental triggers that elicit the onset of clinical events. Moreover, both the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of many, though not all, CV medications have been shown to be influenced by the circadian time of their administration, even though further studies are necessary to better clarify the mechanisms of such influence on different drug classes, drug molecules, and pharmaceutical preparations. Twenty-four-hour rhythmic organization of CV functions is such that defense mechanisms against acute events are incapable of providing the same degree of protection during the day and night. Instead, temporal gates of excessive susceptibility exist, particularly in the morning and to a lesser extent evening (in diurnally active persons), to aggressive mechanisms through which overt clinical manifestations may be triggered. When peak levels of critical physiologic variables, such as blood pressure (BP), heart rate (HR), rate pressure product (systolic BP × HR, surrogate measure of myocardial oxygen demand), sympathetic activation, and plasma levels of endogenous vasoconstricting substances, are aligned together at the same circadian time, the risk of acute events becomes significantly elevated such that even relatively minor and usually harmless physical and mental stress and environmental phenomena can precipitate dramatic life-threatening clinical manifestations. Hence, the delivery of CV medications needs to be synchronized in time, i.e., circadian time, in proportion to need as determined by established temporal patterns in risk of CV events, and in a manner that averts or minimizes undesired side effects.