This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: 41/2/244    most recent 01.HYP.0000052315.51182.3Dv1 Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Request Permissions Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Fontana, F. Articles by Merlo Pich, E. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Fontana, F. Articles by Merlo Pich, E. Related Collections Clinical Studies

(Hypertension. 2003;41:244.)
© 2003 American Heart Association, Inc.

Scientific Contributions

Blood Pressure Response to Hyperventilation Test Reflects Daytime Pressor Profile

Fiorella Fontana; Pasquale Bernardi; Giuseppina Lanfranchi; Maria Sole Pisati; Emilio Merlo Pich

From Dipartimento di Medicina Interna, Cardioangiologia, Epatologia, Ospedale S. Orsola (F.F., P.B., G.L., M.S.P.), Bologna, Italy; and Experimental Discovery Medicine, GlaxoSmithKline SpA, Medicine Research Center (E.M.P.), Verona, Italy.

Correspondence to Dr Fiorella Fontana, Dipartimento di Medicina Interna, Cardioangiologia, Epatologia, Ospedale S. Orsola, Via Massarenti 9, 40138 Bologna, Italy. E-mail ffontana{at}almadns.unibo.it

Recent studies show that healthy subjects and patients with moderate hypertension have different pressor responses to hyperventilation, depending on their sympathoadrenergic reactivity. In the present study, we investigated whether a different response to the hyperventilation test is related to differences in the daily blood pressure profiles recorded with noninvasive ambulatory monitoring. Forty-five healthy subjects and 67 patients with essential hypertension of grades 1 and 2 (Joint National Committee VI and World Health Organization) were investigated. Healthy subjects and hypertensive patients responding to hyperventilation with an increase in systolic blood pressure had, during daytime ambulatory blood pressure assessment, peak systolic blood pressure values (146.0±5.0 mm Hg, 182.2±9.0 mm Hg, respectively) similar to the hyperventilation peak systolic blood pressure values (147.2±3.5 mm Hg, 183.0±4.7 mm Hg, respectively). Hypertensive patients responding to hyperventilation with a decrease in blood pressure showed clinic systolic blood pressure values (178.4±3.2 mm Hg) higher than daytime average ambulatory systolic blood pressure (155.2±7.1 mm Hg; P<0.01). Our results indicate that a hyperventilation test yields information on daily peak blood pressure values in healthy subjects and hypertensive patients when it induces a pressor increase and can identify hypertensive patients with the so-called "white coat effect" when it induces a pressor decrease.

Key Words: hypertension, essential • blood pressure determination • blood pressure monitoring, ambulatory • hypertension, white-coat