Correlations between ST-segment depressions in patients with arterial hypertension and changes in arterial blood pressure and the heart rate.

In 10 treated hypertensives without coronary heart disease we carried out 24-h monitoring of the ST-segment and blood pressure. Twenty-four periods with ST-segment depressions of greater than 0.1 mV were recorded in nine of 10 patients. In nine of 24 periods with ST-segment depressions blood pressure was elevated. The heart rate was increased in 20 of 24 ST-segment depressions. During nine periods with ST-segment depressions angina pectoris was reported, and 27 anginal attacks without ST-segment depressions were observed. These results indicate that only 38% of ST-segment depressions in hypertensive heart disease are paralleled by increases in blood pressure, but 83% are paralleled by increases in the heart rate (P less than 0.001), which shows a better correlation with ST-segment depressions than blood pressure.