Nondipping status in ABP monitoring is independently associated with early atherosclerosis. Whether nondipping pattern is a predictor of atherosclerosis remains to be explored in a future prospective follow-up of this cohort.

Significantly higher ambulatory daytime and night-time SBP levels were seen in individuals with fatty liver. Nondipping does not seem to associate with liver fat. The coexistence of liver fat accumulation and high BP are likely to potentiate the risk for cardiovascular disease.

A reduction in the blood pressure decline at night (o10% from daytime systolic blood pressure (SBP)) during 24-h ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) ('non-dipping pattern') is associated with cardiovascular morbidity. Our aim was to evaluate whether ABPM characteristics are associated with metabolic abnormalities in subjects without known hypertension or type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). This is a cross-sectional population-based study on middle-aged subjects (n¼462). Two distinct definitions of metabolic syndrome (MetS) were used: National Cholesterol Education Program-Third Adult Treatment Panel (NCEP-ATPIII) and International Diabetes Federation (IDF) criteria. Results suggested that subjects characterized by non-dipping in 24 h ABPM were more obese (P¼0.014). After adjustment for body mass index, age and sex, non-dippers had higher verylow-density lipoprotein (VLDL)-cholesterol (P¼0.003), total (P¼0.029)-and VLDL-triglycerides (P¼0.026) and oral glucose tolerance test 2 h blood glucose (P¼0.027) compared with dippers. Non-dipping status was more common among subjects with MetS (Pp0.01), impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) (Po0.05) and in those with the combination of IGT-T2DM (Pp0.01) than among those without these abnormalities. ABPM non-dipping status was an independent predictor of IGT in multivariate models (Po0.05). With respect to MetS components, high triglycerides (Pp0.005) and low high density lipoprotein-cholesterol (Po0.05) were associated with a non-dipping pattern. The percentage decline in blood pressure from day to night decreased with the number of metabolic abnormalities (P¼0.012). In conclusion, ABPM non-dipping status is an independent predictor of glucose intolerance. It is also associated with several other metabolic abnormalities. Whether non-dipping pattern is causally related to these metabolic aberrations remains to be explored in a future prospective follow-up of this cohort.