[Circadian profile of blood pressure and heart rate in geriatric patients with and without dementia].

In this report, investigations on circadian blood pressure fluctuations in geriatric patients with or without senile dementia are reported. 24 patients of a nursing home in Zurich have been included in the study. In senile patients without dementia, persistence of circadian blood pressure rhythm, including a nocturnal decrease of blood pressure, could be demonstrated. In very old patients, however, reduced day-night amplitudes or loss of day-night rhythm, respectively, were observed. In the group of demented patients and in a subgroup including only patients with Alzheimer's disease, loss of circadian blood pressure rhythm and a lacking drop of nocturnal blood pressure values were found, while diurnal rhythmicity of the heart rate remained unchanged. Furthermore, our results demonstrate that there was no circadian blood pressure rhythm detectable in the five patients with Parkinson's syndrome (with or without dementia). The results of this study suggest that degenerative processes of the central nervous system interfere with circadian blood pressure rhythm.