[Objective] We studied the relationship between circadian blood pressure variations and oriental medical observations in the elderly.
[Methods] Subjects in the present study were 39 elderly patients who were aged 65 or older. For measurement of circadian blood pressure variations, ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) was used. Meiji Oriental Medical Score (MOS) and Qi, Blood, Body Fluids Score (developed by Terasawa et al.) were used to evaluate Oriental Medical Status of the subjects.
[Results and Discussion] In the subjects who showed abnormality in circadian blood pressure variations, symptoms of Lung, Kidney and Qi deficiency were identified using MOS, blood deficiency and Qi stagnation were identified using Qi, Blood, Body Fluids Score. The number of the oriental medical symptoms were significantly greater in the subjects who showed abnormalities in circadian blood pressure variations compared with the other subjects. We concluded that oriental medical observations would be helpful to suggest existence of abnormalities in circadian blood pressure variations in elderly with hypertension