Effects of Antihypertensive Therapy on Blood Pressure Variability.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: The study aims to summarize the effect of antihypertensive therapy on various types of BP variability in hypertensives.

RECENT FINDINGS: Visit-to-visit, day-by-day, and ambulatory BPV are markers of target organ damage and cardiovascular prognosis, as was shown in the LIFE study, which showed that visit-to-visit variability in BP predicted cardiovascular events in treated hypertensive patients with left ventricular hypertrophy. Long-acting calcium channel blockers (CCBs) may be a preferable treatment in reducing BPV measures. Non-adherence to antihypertensive medication is also a very important component of increased BPV, and improving the adherence is also a key for the favorable prognosis. BPV cannot be a target of antihypertensive treatments because of the lack of definitive evidence. However, in high-risk patients, those with cardiovascular or cerebrovascular diseases, the clinical significance should be considered in individual basis. Especially, reduction of BPV would be an important strategy for these patients.