In this population-based cohort, systolic blood pressure, but not diastolic pressure, changes over time aligned with change in sodium excretion, but this association did not translate into a higher risk of hypertension or CVD complications. Lower sodium excretion was associated with higher CVD mortality.

Abstract-In previous studies, of which several were underpowered, the relation between cardiovascular outcome and blood pressure (BP) variability was inconsistent. We followed health outcomes in 8938 subjects (mean age: 53.0 years; 46.8% women) randomly recruited from 11 populations. At baseline, we assessed BP variability from the SD and average real variability in 24-hour ambulatory BP recordings. We computed standardized hazard ratios (HRs) while stratifying by cohort and adjusting for 24-hour BP and other risk factors. Over 11.3 years (median), 1242 deaths (487 cardiovascular) occurred, and 1049, 577, 421, and 457 participants experienced a fatal or nonfatal cardiovascular, cardiac, or coronary event or a stroke.Higher diastolic average real variability in 24-hour ambulatory BP recordings predicted (PՅ0.03) total (HR: 1.14) and cardiovascular (HR: 1.21) mortality and all types of fatal combined with nonfatal end points (HR: Ն1.07) with the exception of cardiac and coronary events (HR: Յ1.02; PՆ0.58). Higher systolic average real variability in 24-hour ambulatory BP recordings predicted (PϽ0.05) total (HR: 1.11) and cardiovascular (HR: 1.16) mortality and all fatal combined with nonfatal end points (HR: Ն1.07), with the exception of cardiac and coronary events (HR: Յ1.03; PՆ0.54). SD predicted only total and cardiovascular mortality. While accounting for the 24-hour BP level, average real variability in 24-hour ambulatory BP recordings added Ͻ1% to the prediction of a cardiovascular event. Sensitivity analyses considering ethnicity, sex, age, previous cardiovascular disease, antihypertensive treatment, number of BP readings per recording, or the night:day BP ratio were confirmatory. In conclusion, in a large population cohort, which provided sufficient statistical power, BP variability assessed from 24-hour ambulatory recordings did not contribute much to risk stratification over and beyond 24-hour BP. (Hypertension. 2010;55:1049-1057.)Key Words: blood pressure variability Ⅲ ambulatory blood pressure Ⅲ population science Ⅲ risk factors Ⅲ epidemiology A mbulatory blood pressure monitoring not only provides information on the blood pressure level but on the diurnal changes in blood pressure as well. Blood pressure variability includes both short-term and circadian components, which can be estimated by the SD of the blood pressure values over a defined period of the day or by the night:day blood pressure ratio, respectively. We recently reported in Ͼ7000 subjects recruited from 6 populations on the prognos- Although the aforementioned analyses shed light on the association between outcome and long-term blood pressure variability, the predictive value of short-term reading-toreading blood pressure variability remains uncertain. Possible limitations of previous studies were a lack of statistical power, 2-5 selection of specific groups of patients, 5-7 categorization of variability by arbitrary cutoff points, 2,4,7-9 and sole reliance on fatal end points. 10,11 Moreover, various parameters can capture short-term b...

INH predicts cardiovascular outcome in patients who are normotensive on office or on ambulatory daytime BP measurement.

Serum uric acid (SUA) levels discriminating across the different strata of cardiovascular risk is still unknown. By utilizing a large population-based database, we assessed the threshold of SUA that increases the risk of total mortality and cardiovascular mortality (CVM). The URRAH study (Uric Acid Right for Heart Health) is a multicentre retrospective, observational study, which collected data from several large population-based longitudinal studies in Italy and subjects recruited in the hypertension clinics of the Italian Society of Hypertension. Total mortality was defined as mortality for any cause, CVM as death due to fatal myocardial infarction, stroke, sudden cardiac death, or heart failure. A total of 22 714 subjects were included in the analysis. Multivariate Cox regression analyses identified an independent association between SUA and total mortality (hazard ratio, 1.53 [95% CI, 1.21–1.93]) or CVM (hazard ratio, 2.08 [95% CI, 1.146–2.97]; P <0.001). Cutoff values of SUA able to discriminate total mortality (4.7 mg/dL [95% CI, 4.3–5.1 mg/dL]) and CVM status (5.6 mg/dL [95% CI, 4.99–6.21 mg/dL]) were identified. The information on SUA levels provided a significant net reclassification improvement of 0.26 and of 0.27 over the Heart Score risk chart for total mortality and CVM, respectively ( P <0.001). Sex-specific cutoff values for total mortality and CVM were also identified and validated. In conclusion, SUA levels increasing the risk of total mortality and CVM are significantly lower than those used for the definition of hyperuricemia in clinical practice. Our data provide evidence of a cardiovascular SUA threshold that might contribute in clinical practice to improve identification of patients at higher risk of CVM.

Abstract-Previous studies on the prognostic significance of the morning blood pressure surge (MS) produced inconsistent results. Using the International Database on Ambulatory Blood Pressure in Relation to Cardiovascular Outcome, we analyzed 5645 subjects (mean age: 53.0 years; 54.0% women) randomly recruited in 8 countries. The sleep-through and the preawakening MS were the differences in the morning blood pressure with the lowest nighttime blood pressure and the preawakening blood pressure, respectively. We computed multivariable-adjusted hazard ratios comparing the risk in ethnic-and sex-specific deciles of the MS relative to the average risk in the whole study population. During follow-up (median: 11.4 years), 785 deaths and 611 fatal and nonfatal cardiovascular events occurred. While accounting for covariables and the night:day ratio of systolic pressure, the hazard ratio of all-cause mortality was 1. Key Words: ambulatory blood pressure Ⅲ blood pressure measurement Ⅲ morning surge Ⅲ epidemiology Ⅲ population science S everal studies showed that the incidence of cardiovascular complications peaks in the morning. 1,2 For instance, in the Multicenter Investigation of Limitation of Infarct Size Study 1 and in the Thrombolysis in Myocardial Infarction Phase II Trial, 2 the incidence of myocardial infarction was highest between 6:00 AM and 12:00 AM. Blood pressure also follows a circadian pattern, generally characterized by a fall during sleep and a sharp rise on awakening. 3 This observation gave rise to the hypothesis that an exaggerated morning surge of blood pressure might predict cardiovascular outcome. However, previous studies of populations 4 and hypertensive patients 5-7 produced contradictory results, possibly because of the small number of events and the lack of statistical power. A further issue complicating the interpretation of previous studies is the varying definitions of the morning surge in blood pressure. 8Continuing medical education (CME) credit is available for this article. Go to http://cme.ahajournals.org to take the quiz.