[Long-term 24-hour blood pressure measurement in genuine gestosis and hypertensive pregnancy].

The clinical implications of diminished circadian blood pressure variations during hypertensive pregnancies are not fully understood. We used the COS-INOR-method to quantify circadian blood pressure amplitudes of 32 patients with preeclampsia (GG) and 21 patients with superimposed pre-eclampsia (PG). The two groups did not significantly differ in body weight, age, and gestational date at admission. No differences could be detected in 24-h blood pressure values between the two groups (GG: 127 +/- 14/82 +/- 12 mmHg, PG: 128 +/- 16/86 +/- 9 mmHg). Circadian amplitudes of systolic blood pressure variations (GG: 5.9 +/- 5.5 mmHg, PG: 4.5 +/- 6.9 mmHg) and diastolic blood pressure variations (GG: 3.8 +/- 3.0 mmHg, PG: 5.3 +/- 4.1 mmHg) did not differ significantly. The slope between successive changes of mean arterial blood pressure and successive changes in heart rate was significantly higher in patients with superimposed pre-eclampsia (GG: 0.16 +/- 0.27 mmHg/bpm, PG: 0.36 +/- 0.24 mmHg/bpm, p less than 0.005). We conclude that patients with pre-eclampsia and superimposed pre-eclampsia do not differ in 24-h blood pressure and circadian blood pressure variability, however, if blood-pressure variability is related to heart-rate variability differences become apparent that might be due to altered blood-pressure regulation.