CIRCADIAN-RHYTHM OF BLOOD-PRESSURE AND HEART-RATE IN HEALTHY-PERSONS AND KIDNEY-TRANSPLANT PATIENTS - CORRELATIONS WITH ACTIVITY

Fourteen diurnally active (07:00-22:39 h) normotensive healthy control subjects and 14 kidney transplant patients were studied by ambulatory blood pressure monitoring and wrist actigraphy simultaneously during one 24-h period. In the control group, circadian rhythms in systolic ( SEP), diastolic (DBP), and mean arterial (MAP) blood pressure, heart r ate (HR), and wrist activity were documented by cosinor analysis with comparable afternoon peak times. In contrast, circadian rhythms with a fternoon acrophases were detected only in HR and wrist activity in the patient group. The correlation of wrist activity with HR in controls and patients was comparable. Wrist activity and blood pressure were as sociated (r = 0.65 DBP and 0.54 SEP; p < 0.05) in controls, while in p atients the relationship was weak or absent (r ranging from 0.02 SEP t o 0.22 DBP). In 6 of 14 patients, BP and wrist activity were negativel y correlated, reflecting the existence of nocturnal hypertension. In e ight others, the correlation was small but positive. The 24-h pattern in BP and wrist activity in controls was comparably phased; however, t his was not the case for the transplant patients, indicating the day-n ight pattern in blood pressure in this group is strongly dependent on pathologic phenomena rather than activity level and pattern.