Association between ambient temperature and blood pressure and blood pressure regulators: 1831 hypertensive patients followed up for three years

PLoS One. 2013 Dec 31;8(12):e84522. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0084522. eCollection 2013.

Abstract

Several studies have suggested an association between ambient air temperature and blood pressure. However, this has not been reliably confirmed by longitudinal studies. Also, whether the reaction to temperature stimulation is modified by other factors such as antihypertensive medication is rarely investigated. The present study explores the relationship between ambient temperature and blood pressure, without and with antihypertensive medication, in a study of 1,831 hypertensive patients followed up for three years, in two or four weekly check ups, accumulating 62,452 follow-up records. Both baseline and follow-up blood pressure showed an inverse association with ambient temperature, which explained 32.4% and 65.6% of variation of systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure (P<0.05) respectively. The amplitude of individual blood pressure fluctuation with temperature throughout a year (a 29 degrees centigrade range) was 9.4/7.3 mmHg. Medication with angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor benazepril attenuated the blood pressure fluctuation by 2.4/1.3 mmHg each year, though the inverse association of temperature and blood pressure remained. Gender, drinking behavior and body mass index were also found to modify the association between temperature and diastolic blood pressure. The results indicate that ambient temperature may negatively regulate blood pressure. Hypertensive patients should monitor and treat blood pressure more carefully in cold days, and it could be especially important for the males, thinner people and drinkers.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Alcohol Drinking
  • Antihypertensive Agents / pharmacology
  • Antihypertensive Agents / therapeutic use*
  • Benzazepines
  • Blood Pressure / physiology*
  • Body Mass Index
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Hypertension / drug therapy*
  • Hypertension / physiopathology*
  • Linear Models
  • Longitudinal Studies
  • Male
  • Sex Factors
  • Temperature*
  • Time Factors

Substances

  • Antihypertensive Agents
  • Benzazepines
  • benazepril

Grants and funding

This study has been supported by grants from the National Key Technologies R&D Program of China for the 9th Five-Year Plan (96-906-02-05), National Key Technologies R&D Program of China for the 10th Five-Year Plan (2001BAF03B02), Mega-projects of Science Research for the 11th Five-Year Plan (2006BAI01A03- (16)). Website of the funders: http://program.most.gov.cn/. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.