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Nighttime Aspirin Can Reduce Daytime Blood Pressure

Posted: Thursday, May 29, 2008

Low-dose aspirin can reduce daytime blood pressure if taken at night, and this may delay the progression of prehypertension to true hypertension, investigators report.

A study suggesting this possible delay in disease progression was presented at a briefing during the annual meeting of the American Society of Hypertension, by lead investigator Dr. Ramon C. Hermida of the University of Vigo, Spain.

Dr. Hermida's team investigated the time-dependent nature of low-dose aspirin administration in 244 subjects who met the definition of prehypertension. Mean age was 43 years.

The subjects were randomized into three groups: lifestyle modification only, lifestyle modification plus aspirin 100 mg every morning, or lifestyle modification and aspirin 100 mg taken at bedtime. They underwent continuous blood pressure monitoring for 48 hours at baseline and after 3 months of intervention.

"Ambulatory blood pressure was unchanged in the nonpharmacologic group and in the morning aspirin group," Dr. Hermida told Reuters Health.

However, nighttime aspirin administration resulted in a mean decrease of 5.4 mm Hg in systolic blood pressure and 3.4 mm Hg in diastolic blood pressure compared to baseline values, without any change in heart rate or physical activity. Reductions in blood pressure were similar for both day and night.

"Prehypertension will progress to hypertension in just a few years," Dr. Hermida commented. "These findings show that nighttime aspirin administration could delay disease progression and the need for more potent antihypertensive medications."

"We are now setting up a primary prevention study, with a larger group of people (with prehypertension), to assess if nighttime aspirin can, in fact, delay disease progression," the investigator said.

"These findings show that we cannot underestimate the impact of the body's circadian rhythms," Dr. Hermida said in an American Society of Hypertension release. "The beneficial effects of time-dependent medication administration have, until now, been largely unknown in people with prehypertension."

Recognizing this "gives us a new option to optimize blood pressure control and reduce risk of cardiovascular disease down the line," he said.

Source: Diabetes In Control: Presented at a briefing during the annual meeting of the American Society of Hypertension, by lead investigator Dr. Ramon C. Hermida of the University of Vigo, Spain.