A TRIAL OF TWO STRATEGIES TO REDUCE NOCTURNAL BLOOD PRESSURE IN AFRICAN AMERICANS WITH CHRONIC KIDNEY DISEASE

The objective of our study was to determine the effects of two antihypertensive drug dose schedules (‘PM dose’ and ‘Add on dose’) on nocturnal blood pressure (BP) in comparison to usual therapy (‘AM dose’) in African Americans with hypertensive chronic kidney disease (CKD) and controlled office BP. In a three period, cross-over trial, former participants of the African American Study of Kidney Disease were assigned to receive the following three regimens, each lasting 6 weeks, presented in random order: AM dose (once daily antihypertensive medications taken in the morning), PM dose (once daily antihypertensives taken at bedtime) and ‘Add on dose’ (once daily antihypertensives taken in the morning and an additional antihypertensive medication before bedtime [diltiazem 60–120 mg, hydralazine 25 mg, or additional ramipril 5 mg]). Ambulatory BP monitoring was performed at the end of each period. The primary outcome was nocturnal systolic BP. Mean age of the study population (n=147) was 65.4 years, 64% were male, mean estimated GFR was 44.9 ml/min/1.73 m2. At the end of each period, mean (SE) nocturnal systolic BP was 125.6 (1.2) mm Hg in the AM dose, 123.9 (1.2) mm Hg in the PM dose, and 123.5(1.2) mm Hg in the Add-on dose. None of the pairwise differences in nocturnal, 24-hour and daytime systolic BP were statistically significant. Among African Americans with hypertensive CKD, neither PM (bedtime) dosing of once daily antihypertensive nor the addition of drugs taken at bedtime significantly reduced nocturnal BP compared to morning dosing of anti-hypertensive medications.