Twenty-Four Hour Blood Pressure Variation and Cardiovascular Risks between Smokers and Nonsmokers

Abstract

There are short-term and long-term variations seen in blood pressure. An abnormal pattern in cyclic variations of blood pressure (diurnal or seasonal) correlates well with an increased cardiovascular risk for hypertension, regardless of the resting blood pressure level. Increased blood pressure reactivity to smoking is also associated with a higher cardiovascular risk, and may be a significant determinant of cyclic blood pressure variations. The purpose of the study was to compare systolic (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) between smokers and non smokers and elicit the cardiovascular risk. To achieve the purpose twenty (20) male athletes were selected from Dept. of physical education and sports science, Annamalai University, among these selected subjects ten (10) were smokers and ten (10) were non smokers. The parameters analyzed were 24-hour daytime and nighttime systolic and diastolic blood pressure using sphygmomanometer. The data was collected at six different times of the day 02:00, 06:00, 10:00, 14:00, 18:00 and 22:00 hours respectively. The data was collected from smokers and non smokers on SBP and DBP and 2 × 6 ANOVA with last factor repeated was computed. SBP and DBP showed significant variations between smokers and non smokers. SBP and DBP showed significant variations between smokers and non smokers at different times of the day. Not only the absolute value of blood pressure, but also the patterns of its excessive variation are closely related to the occurrence of cardiovascular events, so these patterns are clinically important. It may be difficult to explain the exact mechanisms of various abnormal short-term and long-term blood pressure variations at present. Smoking has been suggested as the causes of abnormal variations in blood pressure.