Evaluation of the Relationship between Inflammatory, Metabolic, and Liver-Related Indexes and Blood Pressure Dipping Ratios: A Retrospective Study

Abstract

Background: Nighttime blood pressure dipping is a normal physiologic phenomenon. Lack of dipping is associated with increased cardiovascular disease; thus, non-dipping patients are candidates for more strict risk reduction strategies. Dipping presence can be identified using ambulatory blood pressure measurement (ABPM). Recent findings indicate that inflammatory, metabolic, and liver-related indices may have a role in predicting dipping presence dichotomously. Aim: To investigate whether dipping ratios correlate with that inflammatory, metabolic, and liver-related indices. Materials and Methods: Hypertensive patients with ABPM recordings were retrospectively collected. Patient characteristics, co-morbidities, medications, laboratory results, and ABPM results were analyzed. The neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR), triglyceride-glucose index (TyG), triglyceride-to-HDL ratio (TG/HDL), total cholesterol-to-HDL ratio (TC/HDL), AST-to-ALT ratio (AST/ALT), fibrosis-4 (FIB-4), and AST-to-platelet ratio index (APRI) were calculated. Differences and correlations were analyzed between indices, dipping patterns, and ratios. Results: Ninety-three patients were included in the study. Forty-five had either a systolic or diastolic dipping pattern. NLR, PLR, TG/HDL, and TC/HDL indices correlated negatively with dipping ratios. AST/ALT was higher in systolic dippers (1.04 vs 0.88, P = 0.03). However, no difference was observed between NLR, PLR, TyG, TG/HDL, TC/HDL, FIB-4, and APRI among different dipping presences. Conclusion: This study showed for the first time that there was a negative correlation between inflammatory and metabolic indices and dipping ratios.