Seasonal variation in blood pressure: Evidence, consensus and recommendations for clinical practice. Consensus statement by the European Society of Hypertension Working Group on Blood Pressure Monitoring and Cardiovascular Variability

Blood pressure (BP) exhibits seasonal variation with lower levels at higher environmental temperatures and higher at lower temperatures. This is a global phenomenon affecting both sexes, all age groups, normotensive individuals, and hypertensive patients. In treated hypertensive patients it may result in excessive BP decline in summer, or rise in winter, possibly deserving treatment modification. This Consensus Statement by the European Society of Hypertension Working Group on BP Monitoring and Cardiovascular Variability provides a review of the evidence on the seasonal BP variation regarding its epidemiology, pathophysiology, relevance, magnitude, and the findings using different measurement methods. Consensus recommendations are provided for health professionals on how to evaluate the seasonal BP changes in treated hypertensive patients and when treatment modification might be justified. (i) In treated hypertensive patients symptoms appearing with temperature rise and suggesting overtreatment must be investigated for possible excessive BP drop due to seasonal variation. On the other hand, a BP rise during cold weather, might be due to seasonal variation. (ii) The seasonal BP changes should be confirmed by repeated office measurements; preferably with home or ambulatory BP monitoring. Other reasons for BP change must be excluded. (iii) Similar issues might appear in people traveling from cold to hot places, or the reverse. (iv) BP levels below the recommended treatment goal should be considered for possible down-titration, particularly if there are symptoms suggesting overtreatment. SBP less than 110 mmHg requires consideration for treatment down-titration, even in asymptomatic patients. Further research is needed on the optimal management of the seasonal BP changes. © 2020 Lippincott Williams and Wilkins. All rights reserved

Home blood pressure monitoring: methodology, clinical relevance and practical application: a 2021 position paper by the Working Group on Blood Pressure Monitoring and Cardiovascular Variability of the European Society of Hypertension.

The present paper provides an update of previous recommendations on Home Blood Pressure Monitoring from the European Society of Hypertension (ESH) Working Group on Blood Pressure Monitoring and Cardiovascular Variability sequentially published in years 2000, 2008 and 2010. This update has taken into account new evidence in this field, including a recent statement by the American Heart association, as well as technological developments, which have occurred over the past 20 years. The present document has been developed by the same ESH Working Group with inputs from an international team of experts, and has been endorsed by the ESH

Redox-dependent regulation of the Na+-K+ pump: new twists to an old target for treatment of heart failure

By the time it was appreciated that the positive inotropic effect of cardiac glycosides is due to inhibition of the membrane Na-K pump, glycosides had been used for treatment of heart failure on an empiric basis for ~200years. The subsequent documentation of their lack of clinical efficacy and possible harmful effect largely coincided with the discovery that a raised Na concentration in cardiac myocytes plays an important role in the electromechanical phenotype of heart failure syndromes. Consistent with this, efficacious pharmacological treatments for heart failure have been found to stimulate the Na-K pump, effectively the only export route for intracellular Na in the heart failure. A paradigm has emerged that implicates pump inhibition in the raised Na levels in heart failure. It invokes protein kinase-dependent activation of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate oxidase (NADPH oxidase) and glutathionylation, a reversible oxidative modification, of the Na-K pump molecular complex that inhibits its activity. Since treatments of proven efficacy reverse the oxidative Na-K pump inhibition, the pump retains its status as a key pharmacological target in heart failure. Its role as a target is well integrated with the paradigms of neurohormonal abnormalities, raised myocardial oxidative stress and energy deficiency implicated in the pathophysiology of the failing heart. We propose that targeting oxidative inhibition of the pump is useful for the exploration of future treatment strategies. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled "NaRegulation in Cardiac Myocytes"