Antihypertensive treatment decreases arterial stiffness at night but not during the day. Results from the Hypertension in the Very Elderly Trial

Figures & data

Table 1. Means (standard deviations) after an average of 13-month placebo or active treatment.

	Placebo	Active		Placebo	Active
N	67 (day)	72 (day)	p Value	67 (night)	72 (night)	p Value
QKD (ms)	180.7 (20.7)	179.2 (21.1)	0.67	188.0 (19.5)	193.6 (26.5)	0.16
Systolic BP (mm Hg)	127.7 (16.4)	119.8 (14.0)	<0.01	117.4 (19.9)	109.9 (14.5)	0.01
Diastolic BP (mm Hg)	79.1 (11.3)	72.6 (8.3)	<0.01	71.8 (11.7)	66.6 (9.0)	<0.01
Pulse pressure (mm Hg)	48.6 (13.8)	47.3 (12.2)	0.56	45.6 (14.7)	43.3 (12.5)	0.32
Heart rate (beats/min)	73.8 (9.1)	75.2 (9.0)	0.36	66.3 (8.1)	64.9 (8.8)	0.33

QKD: Q wave Korotkoff diastolic time interval in milliseconds (ms); BP: blood pressure.

Figure 1. Ambulatory systolic blood pressure according to treatment group.

Figure 2. Heart rate according to treatment group.

Figure 3. Q wave Korotkoff diastolic interval (QKD) according to treatment group.

Figure 4. Q wave Korotkoff diastolic interval (QKD) adjusted for systolic blood pressure, heart rate, and height, according to treatment group.

Table 2. Summary results from the normal mixed model analysis, outcome variable = QKD (ms).

Predictor	Coefficient	Standard error	t Value	p Value
Intercept	176	31.1	5.66	<0.001
Treatment (placebo)	−2.39	3.56	−0.67	0.503
Day–night difference	−7.70	2.47	−3.12	0.002
Treatment^*day–night	6.57	2.72	2.41	0.017
Systolic BP	−0.416	0.0756	−5.50	<0.001
Heart rate	−0.248	0.145	−1.71	0.089
Height (m)	0.495	0.177	2.80	0.006

QKD (ms): Q wave Korotkoff diastolic time interval in milliseconds.