Diurnal Blood Pressure Rhythm in Hypertensives With Parental History of Stroke

Abstract To investigate whether the lack of nocturnal decline of blood pressure (nondipper) is a primary cause of stroke or a secondary abnormality due to stoke, we examined the relation between the blood pressure variation and parental history of stroke in 110 hypertensive patients. In nondippers (n = 54), the frequency of positive parental history of stroke was significantly higher than in dippers (n = 56) (53.7% v 33.9%, , ). We observed a significant increase in the incidence of positive parental history of stroke in nondippers, suggesting that some genetic factors may regulate blood pressure profiles before stroke develops.