The disadvantage of morning blood pressure management in hypertensive patients

To investigate whether the control of morning blood pressure (MBP) reflects the control of blood pressure (BP) in other periods (daytime, nighttime and 24-hour) and to assess whether morning BP displays a closer association with subclinical target organ damage (TOD) than the BP measured in other periods. One thousand one hundred forty patients with primary hypertension who completed subclinical TOD detection and 24-hour ambulatory BP monitoring were included in the analysis. Pearson correlation analysis, Kappa consistency test, multiple linear regression analysis, and area under the receiver operating curve were used to analyze the data. Morning BP and daytime BP displayed good agreement, but not 24-hour BP , particularly the nighttime BP (all P < .001). Approximately 39.4% of the hypertensive patients receiving drug treatment who had achieved control of the morning BP presented masked nocturnal hypertension, which was associated with worse subclinical TOD. The BP measured in all periods correlated with subclinical TOD, and the correlation was more obvious in the treatment subgroup. However, morning BP did not independently affect subclinical TOD. Morning BP appeared to exhibit less discriminatory power than nighttime BP, particularly with respect to the urinary albumin to creatinine ratio. The use of morning BP for monitoring during hypertension management may not be enough. Masked uncontrolled nocturnal hypertension should be screened when morning BP is controlled.