Hypoxic adaptation and the daily blood pressure profile are the subject of this clinical abstract by V. I. Potievskaya. The complete English author text from the bilingual source follows.
P. V. Mandryka Second Central Military Clinical Hospital, Moscow
Author Abstract
We have observed 62 stage II hypertension patients, of which 32 received hypoxic therapy in addition to traditional pharmacotherapy, whereas the comparison group, consisting of 30 patients, only received pharmacotherapy. Hypoxia exposure was done using a gas mixture consisting of 10% oxygen and 90% nitrogen. The number of sessions varied from 10 to 16.
The most significant drop of maximum blood pressure (BP) during day and night hours occurred in the group that received both the hypoxia training and pharmacotherapy. The combined therapy resulted in a drop of the hypertension load below 25% and in a shorter duration of BP rises than pharmacotherapy alone. In both groups we observed recovery of BP during drop periods and disappearance of BP peaks during night sleep hours.
Adaptation to intermittent normobaric hypoxic therapy is shown to have a protective effect against extreme drops of BP during night hours.
