Blood pressure and heart rate recordings at home and at the clinic. Evidence for increased cardiovascular reactivity in young men with mild blood pressure elevation.

In 41 apparently healthy men, aged 22-25 years, with mild blood pressure elevation (MBPE) and 19 age- and sex-matched normotensive controls (MC), blood pressure (BP) and heart rate (HR) readings at the clinic were compared to self-determined morning and afternoon values at home. The criteria for inclusion in the MBPE group were auscultatory BP less than 150 mmHg systolic and/or less than 90 mmHg diastolic at the military enlistment center from which the subjects were recruited, and systolic BP less than 140 mmHg on two subsequent occasions at the clinic. The BPs of the controls, who were mainly recruited from the same center, did not exceed 130/80 mmHg either at the enlistment center or at the clinic. The magnitude of the difference in systolic BP between home and clinic readings in the MBPE group (+15.3 mmHg) differed significantly from that in the NC group (+1.8 mmHg) (p less than 0.001). In both groups the systolic BP increased slightly but significantly during the day and was higher at home in the afternoon than in the morning. HR showed the same type of variation as BP in both groups with higher values at the clinic. The rise tended to be more pronounced (p less than 0.1) in patients with MBPE. Surprisingly, resting HR at home in the morning was significantly lower in the MBPE than in the NC group. Normokinetic and hyperkinetic subgroups of patients with MBPE did not differ from each other with respect to the variations in HR and BP studied.