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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Cardiovasc. Med.

Sec. Hypertension

Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fcvm.2025.1689811

This article is part of the Research TopicThe Role of Environmental and Metabolic Factors in Global Cardiovascular HealthView all 9 articles

Evaluation of Body Mass Index in Patients with Dipper and Non-Dipper Hypertension

Provisionally accepted
TOLGA  MEMİOĞLUTOLGA MEMİOĞLU1*MEHMET  İNANIRMEHMET İNANIR1KIVANÇ  ARGANAKIVANÇ ARGANA1SALİH  VAHİT KİRİŞSALİH VAHİT KİRİŞ1İBRAHİM  GÜVENİBRAHİM GÜVEN1MURAT  DIRAMALIMURAT DIRAMALI2KENAN  TOPRAKKENAN TOPRAK3MEHMET  ÖZYAŞARMEHMET ÖZYAŞAR4
  • 1Department of Cardiology, Faculty of Medicine, Abant Izzet Baysal University, Bolu, Türkiye
  • 2Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, Abant Izzet Baysal University, Bolu, Türkiye
  • 3Department of Cardiology, Harran Universitesi Tip Fakultesi, Şanlıurfa, Türkiye
  • 4Department of Cardiology, Konya Sehir Hastanesi, Konya, Türkiye

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

Background: Circadian variation in blood pressure, particularly the distinction between dipper and non-dipper profiles, plays a critical role in cardiovascular risk stratification. Although recent studies suggest that obesity may contribute to non-dipping patterns, the relationship remains controversial. Objective: To compare body mass index (BMI) between dipper and non-dipper hypertensive patients and to evaluate whether BMI can serve as a marker of non-dipping status. Methods: This retrospective observational study analyzed ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) records of 200 patients (100 dippers and 100 non-dippers) who underwent 24-hour ABPM using a validated Holter device. BMI values were calculated and compared between groups. Results: The distribution of sex did not differ significantly between dipper and non-dipper patients (p = 0.571). The mean BMI was significantly higher in the non-dipper group compared with the dipper group (30.75 ± 5.42 vs. 28.07 ± 5.09 kg/m², p = 0.002). Non-dipper hypertensive patients demonstrated significantly higher BMI levels than dipper patients. Conclusions: These findings support the hypothesis that obesity may impair nocturnal blood pressure regulation and suggest that BMI could serve as a simple marker of non-dipping status. This indicates a potential association between increased BMI and a non-dipping blood pressure profile. Due to its retrospective design, this study cannot establish causality.

Keywords: Non-dipping blood pressure, Body Mass Index, Hypertension, Circadian Rhythm, Obesity

Received: 20 Aug 2025; Accepted: 08 Oct 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 MEMİOĞLU, İNANIR, ARGANA, KİRİŞ, GÜVEN, DIRAMALI, TOPRAK and ÖZYAŞAR. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: TOLGA MEMİOĞLU, tolgaptca@hotmail.com

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