[Rate of the morning heart rate rising as an indicator of circadian rhythm disturbances in patients with hypertensive disease].

The aim of the study was to measure a rise in the morning heart rate (HR) and assess the possibility of using this parameter to characterize circadian HR rhythm disturbances in patients with arterial hypertension (AH). A total of 44 subjects were examined by 24 hour ECG monitoring; 30 of them had grade II AH (group 1, mean age 46.0 +/- 9.4 yr) and 14 were healthy (group 2, mean age 39.1 +/- 5.3 yr). Morning HR immediately after awakening in AH patients and healthy subjects increased at a rate of 16.9 +/- 6.39 and 8.91 +/- 3.21 beats/min respectively. Group 1 proved inhomogeneous in terms of this parameter. Patients of subgroup B (27%) were not significantly different from healthy subjects (HR increased by 9.82 +/- 1.34 and 8.91 +/- 3.21 beats/min). Subgroup A (73%) included patients with enhanced HR reactivity after awakening compared with subgroup B and healthy subjects (19.54 +/- 5.42; 9.82 +/- 1.34; 8.91 +/- 3.21 respectively). It suggested disturbed circadian HM rhythm in subgroup A. It is concluded that the character of morning rise in HR may be used for the evaluation of circadian HM rhythm disturbances in AH.