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6 - Measuring physiological changes in the cardiovascular system: ambulatory blood pressure

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 September 2009

By
Gary D. James
Edited by
Gillian H. Ice  and
Gary D. James
Gillian H. Ice
Affiliation:
Ohio University
Gary D. James
Affiliation:
State University of New York, Binghamton
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Summary

Introduction

Blood pressure is the most familiar and probably the most difficult to interpret measure in anthropological studies of stress and human variation. The difficulty in interpretation arises from the use of single blood pressure measurements as an indicator of stress. The dogma that each person has specific blood pressure numbers that can be used to ascertain pathology (see for example, JNCVII, 2003) has directed the attention of anthropological researchers to the between-individual distribution of these numbers as a means of studying the evolutionary and health effects of stress on blood pressure, and away from the enormous within-individual variation that actually characterizes the adaptive value of blood pressure as it responds to the dynamic stressors of everyday living (James, 1991; Pickering, 1991).

Some 35 years ago, ambulatory monitors were developed which could capture intra-individual diurnal variation in blood pressure (James, 1991). Hundreds of subsequent studies that have employed ambulatory monitoring have shown that a myriad of external environmental stressors, cognitive processes and behavior contribute substantially to the intra-individual diurnal variation in blood pressure. It is this variation that allows people to adapt to the constantly changing challenges that define their everyday life. It is also this variation that is an important contributor to cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. The purpose of this chapter is to outline the issues, methods, and techniques that are related to the study of diurnal blood pressure variation as it occurs in response to the tribulations of everyday life using ambulatory blood pressure monitors.

Type
Chapter
Information
Measuring Stress in Humans
A Practical Guide for the Field
 , pp. 158 - 180
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2006

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