Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitoring in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Patients.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is now considered as multisystem disorder with high cardiovascular mortality. The study was carried out with an objective to observe the pattern and variation of blood pressure (BP) using ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) in COPD patients. METHODS: Thirty six cases of COPD diagnosed by spirometry underwent ABPM for blood pressure evaluation. Thirty controls without COPD underwent spirometry and ABPM. Analysis were carried out both during wakefulness and sleep. RESULTS: Out of 36 COPD cases 25 were found to be hypertensive on ABPM, while 2 out of 30 controls were found to be hypertensive on ABPM. A significant difference was found between blood pressure levels during the wakefulness, sleep, and 24-hour BP amongst COPD cases and controls. Higher blood pressure levels were observed in COPD patients then in control, except for diastolic levels during wakefulness. The normal nocturnal dip was attenuated in COPD patients whereas physiological dip was present in controls. CONCLUSION: COPD patients had higher blood pressure levels than the control group and had abnormal dipping pattern of blood pressure which may lead to high cardiovascular mortality in patients of COPD.