OBJECTIVE: To investigate associations between metabolic syndrome (MS) and 24-hour blood pressure parameters as a measure of cardiovascular risk (CVR). SUBJECTS AND METHODS: 136 hypertensive subjects, of both sexes, aged between 29 and 83 years were studied. CVR was defined as having at least three of the following conditions: 1) systolic/diastolic blood pressure (BP) ≥ 140/90 mmHg, absence/atennuation of nighttime fall in BP during sleep, pulse pressure (PP) ≥ 53 mmHg; 2) 24-h PP > 53 mmHg, 3) nighttime PP > 53 mmHg, 4) daytime PP > 53 mmHg and 5) nighttime fall in BP during sleep. RESULTS: The 24-h PP, daytime PP and nighttime PP were elevated in 54% of the population. Hypertriglyceridemia (52%), low HDL (72.8%), abdominal obesity (60.3%), MS (58.1%), dyslipidemia (88.8%), overweight (74.3%) and obesity (33.8%) were also elevated. Age-adjusted MS was associated with higher CVR (OR = 4.5 and 3.6), 24-h PP (OR = 2.3 and 4.7), and daytime PP (OR = 2.2 and 4.6). CONCLUSIONS: MS was highly prevalent and correlated with altered 24-hour blood pressure parameters.
Ambulatory blood pressure monitoring; arterial hypertension; cardiovascular risk; pulse pressure
