NO RELEVANT SEASONAL INFLUENCES ON OFFICE AND AMBULATORY BLOOD-PRESSURE - DATA FROM A STUDY IN BORDERLINE HYPERTENSIVE PRIMARY-CARE PATIENTS

Our objective was to study seasonal influences on office and ambulator y blood pressure. We therefore designed a prospective 7-month study of 47 borderline hypertensive patients in a primary care setting. We use d no interventions. Our main outcome measures were the differences bet ween summer and winter office and ambulatory blood pressures and 95% c onfidence intervals. Results showed that winter minus summer differenc es ranged from 0 to 3 mm Hg. Only one significant difference was found : ambulatory systolic daytime pressure was significantly higher (3 mm Hg) in winter than in summer. Our results do not confirm the data of e arlier studies in hypertensives. In view of the small and clinically i rrelevant winter-summer differences, it seems unnecessary to modify an tihypertensive treatment of borderline hypertensives according to the season. (C) 1998 American Journal of Hypertension, Ltd.