24-HOUR BLOOD-PRESSURE PROFILE STRUCTURAL AND FUNCTIONAL-CHANGES IN CARDIOVASCULAR-SYSTEM AT INITIAL-STATE OF ESSENTIAL-HYPERTENSION

24-h blood pressure (BP) monitoring conducted in 52 patients with mild to moderate essential hypertension have shown that the avenge 24-h systolic and diastolic BP correlates with left ventricular (LV) mass index, while at casual clinical measurements only systolic BP correlates with LV mass index. In non-dippers (patients with a nocturnal BP decrease less than 10%) LV hypertrophy is observed 2 times more often than in dippers (patients with a nocturnal BP decrease more than 10%). In the group of dippers 24-h variability of systolic BP and daily systolic BP correlate with LV mass index. Increased variability of night BP correlates with increased venous tone in the calf, increased structural component of vascular resistance and a reduction of blood flow reserve in lower extremities.