Race differences in ambulatory blood pressure monitoring parameters.

Background: Mean systolic and diastolic blood pressure (SBP and DBP) on ambulatory blood pressure (BP) monitoring (ABPM) are higher among Black compared with White adults. With 48 to 72 BP measurements obtained over 24 h, ABPM can generate parameters other than mean BP that are associated with increased risk for cardiovascular events. There are few data on race differences in ABPM parameters other than mean BP.

Methods: To estimate differences between White and Black participants in ABPM parameters, we used pooled data from five US-based studies in which participants completed ABPM (n = 2580). We calculated measures of SBP and DBP level, including mean, load, peak, and measures of SBP and DBP variability, including average real variability (ARV) and peak increase.

Results: There were 1513 (58.6%) Black and 1067 (41.4%) White participants with mean ages of 56.1 and 49.0 years, respectively. After multivariable adjustment, asleep SBP and DBP load were 5.7% (95% CI: 3.5-7.9%) and 2.7% (95% CI: 1.1-4.3%) higher, respectively, among Black compared with White participants. Black compared with White participants also had higher awake DBP ARV (0.3 [95%CI: 0.0-0.6] mmHg) and peak increase in DBP (0.4 [95% CI: 0.0-0.8] mmHg). There was no evidence of Black:White differences in awake measures of SBP level, asleep peak SBP or DBP, awake and asleep measures of SBP variability or asleep measures of DBP variability after multivariable adjustment.

Conclusion: Asleep SBP load, awake DBP ARV and peak increase in awake DBP were higher in Black compared to White participants, independent of mean BP on ABPM.