Central Blood Pressure

Blood pressure (BP) values change significantly over the 24-hour period as a result of the interaction between extrinsic environmental and behavioural factors and intrinsic cardiovascular regulatory mechanisms. This chapter reviews the available evidence in the field of short-term Blood pressure variability including its mechanisms, the methodological aspects that should be considered for its assessment, the indices for its estimation, its relevance and significance for cardiovascular prognosis as well as its potential for application in clinical practice. A traditional approach for the estimation of very-short-term BPV when using continuous beat-to-beat BP recordings consists in the calculation of the standard deviation (SD) of each half-hour mean BP value, followed by the calculation of the average of the 48 half-hour SDs. An accurate estimation of spectral indices for assessment of very-short-term BPV in the frequency domain is only possible from continuous beat-to-beat BP recordings.