Circadian typology and hypertension

Several studies investigated the relationship between circadian typology (CT) and biological parameters variations, but no study evaluated whether changes in Blood Pressure (BP), recorded by an ambulatory BP monitoring on 24-hours (BP-24h), can be affected by subject’s CT. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether people with different chronotypes, identified by using subjective measures, show different patterns of cardiovascular responses in relation to wakefulness and sleep states. 215 subjects (M/F 108/107; mean age 49.7) underwent to a BP-24h and filled in the Morning and Evening Questionnaire (MEQ), for evaluating CT. Results showed a CT by Gender interaction on Systolic BP (during 24h:p<.01, wake:p<.03, sleep:p<.01), indicating that Evening-type Men have higher BP levels as respect to Evening-type Women, Intermediate and Morning-type Men. CT was not related to BP differences during Wake and Sleep. These results suggest that evening-type men are more exposed to the risk of cardiovascular diseases.