Ethnic differences in inter- and intra-situational blood pressure variation: Comparisons among African-American, Hispanic-American, Asian-American, and European-American women.

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to compare the daily inter- and intra-situational ambulatory blood pressure (BP) variation by ethnicity in women. METHODS: The African-American (N = 82; Age = 39.7 + 8.9), Hispanic-American (N = 25; age = 37.5 + 9.4), Asian-American (N = 22; Age = 35.2 + 8.6), and European-American (N = 122; Age = 37.2+ 9.4) women in this study all worked in similar positions at two major medical centers in NYC. Each wore an ambulatory monitor during the course of one mid-week workday. Proportional BP changes from work or home to sleep, intra-situational BP variation (standard deviation [SD]) and mean situational BP levels were compared among the groups using ANOVA models. RESULTS: African-American and Asian-American women had significantly smaller proportional work-sleep systolic changes than either European- (P < 0.05) or Hispanic-American (P < 0.05) women, but the Asian-American women's changes tended to be smallest. The variability (SD) of diastolic BP at work was significantly greater among African- and Hispanic-American women compared to Asian- and European-American women (all P < 0.05). African-American women had greater sleep variability than European-American women (P < 0.05). Asian-American women had the highest level of sleep diastolic pressure (all comparisons P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: African-American and Asian-American women have an attenuated proportional BP decline from waking environments to sleep compared to European-American and Hispanic-American women. Asian-American nocturnal BP may be elevated relative to all other groups. Am. J. Hum. Biol. 28:932-935, 2016. © 2016Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Daily environmental differences in blood pressure and heart rate variability in healthy premenopausal women.

OBJECTIVES: As daily environments change, behavior and activity also change and as blood pressure (BP) and heart rate (HR) are allostatically tied to these factors, one might expect that environments that elicit the greatest behavioral/activity variation should also evince the highest BP and HR variability [standard deviation (SD) or coefficient of variation (CV)]. The purpose of this study was to evaluate this premise. METHODS: Two hundred and six women (age = 37.6 ± 9.1 years) wore an ambulatory BP monitor on a midweek workday. All worked in clerical, technical, or professional positions. Ambulatory BP and HR Means, SDs and CVs at work (11 AM-3 PM), home (∼6-10 PM) and during sleep (∼10 PM-6 AM) were compared using repeated measures ANCOVA. RESULTS: Mean BP and HR decreased from work and home to sleep [121 ± 11, 120 ± 11 vs. 107 ± 12 systolic; 82 ± 10, 80 ± 11 vs. 66 ± 11 diastolic; 79 ± 12, 80 ± 12 vs. 68 ± 11 HR (all P < 0.001)], while the CV of systolic and diastolic BP increased [0.06 ± 0.02, 0.07 ± 0.02 vs. 0.08 ± 0.03 systolic; 0.09 ± 0.03, 0.10 ± 0.04 vs. 0.12 ± 0.05 diastolic (P < 0.001)]. The HR SD decreased during sleep [8.1 ± 3.8, 8.2 ± 3.8 vs. 6.9 ± 3.2 (P < 0.001)]. CONCLUSIONS: HR variability follows the expected variability pattern with behavior and activity, whereas BP does not.