| Summary: | Women with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have poor sleep quality and increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Non-dipping of nocturnal blood pressure may be an explanatory factor for the relationship between sleep and CVD found in previous research. The current study was designed to determine if non-dipping nocturnal blood pressure was associated with trauma exposure, PTSD diagnosis, PTSD symptoms, and sleep quality in a sample of women. Participants completed 24 hours of ABPM and self-report questionnaires. Non-dipping was defined as less than 10% reduction in blood pressure during sleep. The frequency of non-dippers did not differ by diagnostic status (d= .15). However, non-dippers endorsed more traumatic event categories (d= .53), more PTSD hyperarousal symptoms (d= .53), poorer overall sleep quality (d= .59), more frequent use of sleep medication (d= .62), greater sleep-related daytime dysfunction (d= .58), and longer sleep onset latencies (d= .55) than dippers. Increased attention to nocturnal blood pressure variation may be needed to improve blood pressure control in trauma-exposed women.
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