ANXIETY AND NIGHT ALTERATION IN BLOOD PRESSURE (BP): ANALYSIS OF DIPPING PHENOMENON

Introduction: The alteration of the physiological night decrease of BP (Dipping) predict a higher cardiovascular risk. Some studies have shown a relationship between Dipping and high levels of anxiety. However, it has never been considered whether anxiety affects an overnight deep decrease of BP. Aim: to investigate this relationship. Methods: One-hundred seventy-four people participated to the study. Their BP was monitored with Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitoring procedure; according to the overnight BP variation, the participants were splitted into three groups: Extreme Dipper (ED; N = 53), Dipper (D; N = 61), Non-Dipper (ND; N = 61). The individuals with a night decrease of BP higher than 20% were identified as ED; the individuals with a night decrease of BP ranged between 10 and 20% were defined as D; the individuals with a night decrease of BP less than 10% were considered as ND. All participants completed the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for assessing anxiety. Results: ANOVAs considering the Group as independent variable showed significant differences for both State Anxiety (F2.17 = 3.00; P\0.05) and Trait Anxiety (F2.17 = 13.69; P\0.0001). In particular, higher levels of trait anxiety were registered in both ED (P\0.0001) and ND (P\0.0001) groups compared to D group, and higher levels of state anxiety were present in ND group than in D group (P\0.02). Conclusions: The results confirm the relationship between anxiety and the alteration of the overnight decrease of BP. They also point out, for the first time, that excessive levels of trait anxiety are associated with a overnight deep decrease of BP. In general, these findings confirm that anxiety is a cardiovascular risk factor that occurs with both increase and decrease of the Dipping phenomenon