COMPARISON OF DISCONTINUOUS BLOOD-PRESSUR E MONITORING (SPACELABS-90207) WITH INTRAARTERIAL RECORDINGS IN SLEEP-APNEA PATIENTS - LIMITATIONS OF THE METHOD

The method of ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) is widely us ed in the diagnosis and treatment-control of arterial hypertension. Pa tients with sleep related breathing disorders (SRBD) suffer very often from arterial hypertension and altered circadian blood pressure (bp) profile. Even in these patients, the ABPM is used to estimate the card iovascular risk. The aim of this study was to compare intraarterial bl ood pressure recordings with DBPR (Spacelabs 90207) in 20 patients wit h mild to moderate arterial hypertension and mild to moderate SRBD. Ou r first results of whole-night measurements show that the mean arteria l pressure seems to be the most reliable value (mean difference Spacel abs P-art: +1,7 mmHg, correlation: r = 0.74). In contrast, the systoli c bp is systematically underestimated (mean: -17.5 mmHg, p < 0.001, r = 0.85) while the diastole value is systematically overestimated (mean : +9.3 mmHg, p < 0.001, r = 0.60) by Spacelabs. Our data show that nei ther systolic nor diastolic bp of Spacelabs measurement reflect the re al cardiovascular load. In future, further reliable non-invasive conti nuous measurement should be accomplished to assess the bp undependent on body position in patients with SRBD during the night.