Relationship between blood pressure rise in the morning hours and 24-hour blood pressure profile was studied in 165 patients (78 men, mean age 56,4+/-2,7 years) with stage II mild and moderate essential hypertension (duration of the disease 13+/-1,2 years). Morning blood pressure rise was maximal in patients with normal or excessive nocturnal decline in blood pressure and minimal in patients with nocturnal hypertension. Thus a conclusion was made that analysis of supplementary characteristics of blood pressure during morning hours (its magnitude and velocity) is necessary for augmentation of informative power of evaluation of the morning blood pressure peak. Some clinically important correlations of parameters of the morning blood pressure rise with variability, nocturnal decline in blood pressure and characteristics of carbohydrate and lipid metabolism were also established.