LAUSR

s 69 Cardiology Department, Klinikum Wels-Grieskirchen, Wels, Austria Practice for Internal Medicine, Vienna, Austria Objectives: Sex differences for parameters of arterial wave reflection and arterial stiffness were reported from single office measurements, but circadian patterns were not extensively investigated up to now. The aim of this study was to determine sex differences between day and night values of ambulatory central blood pressure as well as ambulatory pulse wave parameters related to arterial wave reflection. Methods: A Mobil-O-Graph (IEM, Stolberg) with inbuilt PWA technology was used in patients without antihypertensive treatment visiting a doctor’s practice for internal medicine. Aortic blood pressure was obtained using a generalized transfer function incorporating mean blood pressure for pressure calibration. Daytime was defined between 9 am and 8 pm and nighttime between 10 pm and 6 am. Results: In the study 192 men (mean age 50.5 years) and 155 women (57.3 years) were included. Men had higher central systolic (cSBP) and diastolic blood pressures compared to women. In contrast, augmentation index (AIx) and reflection magnitude (RM) were significantly lower in men compared to women both during day and night. For both sexes, AIx and RM were higher during the night, see table for full details (all day-night differences were statistically significant). Table Mean values of both sexes during daytime and nighttime.