Cigarette-smoking effects on circadian rhythm parameters of blood pressure

Ambulatory monitoring of blood pressure (BP) and heart rate in a multicentric Italian study is used to investigate effects of smoking and of a family history of high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease in clinically healthy adults of both genders between 40 and 59 years of age. A higher 24-h rhythm-adjusted mean of systolic blood pressure is found in smokers having a positive family history of high blood pressure. The results of this chronobiologic investigation are reviewed in the context of relations between smoking and cardiovascular morbidity. It appears that the effect of smoking depends in part on interacting factors. The major factor in this context may well be the family history of BP insofar as the results of the study based on a considerable number of observations are considered