ABSTRACT
In this chapter, I review the evidence that ambulatory blood pressure measurement (ABPM) can provide a means of assessing circadian cardiovascular risk. I will not attempt to review the circadian risk from the biochemical, hormonal, and thrombotic viewpoints other than to acknowledge that there is considerable harmony in the physiological, hemodynamic adjustments that occur during each 24-h cycle, and to indicate at the outset that what may be measurable with ABPM may well be the effect of changes in other hemorheological mechanisms that are orchestrated to cope with the vast variation in activity and circumstance that characterizes human behavior during a 24-h period.
