LEFT-VENTRICULAR MASS INDEX AND 24-HOUR BLOOD-PRESSURE MONITORING - THE ZONE METHOD AND THE AVERAGE METHOD

Recently some authors have suggested that the 24-hour blood pressure recording results recorded by noninvasive method show a better correlation with the left ventricular mass evaluated by echocardiogram than occasional blood pressure values. There is no consensus on which is the best method to analyze the blood pressure values collected during the day. We recorded blood pressure data in 322 patients. The results of daily, nightly, and the entire day were evaluated by the traditional average method and by a method that read the time spent in blood pressure zones arbitrary defined. The results obtained by these two methods showed a strict correlation. Neither method showed a significant difference in the correlation with the left ventricular mass evaluated by echocardiogram. A multiregression stepwise analysis performed between the left ventricular index values and the blood pressure results of both methods suggest that the best prognostic index in the prediction of cardiac hypertrophy is provided by four values, two obtained by average method and two obtained by zone method.