| Objective: Absence of nocturnal blood pressure (BP) dipping is associated with poor health outcomes, including
increased mortality. Non-dipper BP seems to be a predictor of cardiovascular damage in hypertensive patients. The
aim of this study was to investigate the association of the mean platelet volume (MPV) and red cell distribution width
(RDW) with nocturnal dipping/non dipping status in newly diagnosed and untreated prehypertensive non-smokers,
using ambulatory BP monitoring.
Results: Twenty-eight patients (15 males) in the dipper group and 24 patients (11 males) in the non-dipper group
were evaluated in this study. The age of patients was 41.64 ± 15.01 and 37.96 ± 15.08 years in the dipper and
non-dipper groups, respectively. The rate of nocturnal systolic BP drop in the dipper and non-dipper groups was
13.79 ± 3.35% (10.20–22.10) and 5.96 ± 2.87% (1.10–9.30) (P < 0.001), respectively. Also, the mean rate of nocturnal
diastolic BP drop in the dipper and non-dipper groups was 17.02 ± 5.09% (10.30–26.90) and 6.19 ± 2.75% (1.20–9.70)
(P < 0.001), respectively. RDW and MPV were significantly higher in non-dipper patients than dipper patients (P = 0.001
and P = 0.012, respectively). Bivariate analysis revealed that MPV was inversely correlated with the nocturnal systolic
BP drop (P = 0.005, r = − 0.385). Furthermore, RDW was inversely correlated with systolic BP drop (P = 0.019,
r = − 0.324). |