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Clinical use of home and ambulatory blood pressure monitoring
P K Zachariah1, S G Sheps, R L Smith
1Division of Hypertension and Internal Medicine.
Insights
Office blood pressure readings can be unreliable due to variability. Home blood pressure monitoring and ambulatory monitoring offer valuable supplementary methods for diagnosing hypertension and assessing treatment effectiveness.
Area of Science:
- Cardiology
- Clinical Medicine
- Hypertension Management
Background:
- Physician's office blood pressure measurements using mercury-sphygmomanometers are traditional standards for hypertension diagnosis.
- Office blood pressure readings exhibit significant variability, limiting their reliability as indicators of daily blood pressure patterns.
Purpose of the Study:
- To address the role of home and ambulatory blood pressure monitoring in clinical practice.
- To evaluate the utility of these methods in diagnosing hypertension and cardiovascular disorders.
- To assess their effectiveness in determining antihypertensive therapy efficacy.
Main Methods:
- Discussion of blood pressure measurements performed by patients at home.
- Review of automatic ambulatory blood pressure monitoring techniques.
- Analysis of the clinical application of these supplementary methods.
Main Results:
- Office blood pressure variability limits diagnostic accuracy.
- Home and ambulatory monitoring provide more comprehensive blood pressure data.
- These methods enhance the evaluation of antihypertensive treatment.
Conclusions:
- Home and ambulatory blood pressure monitoring are crucial supplementary tools.
- These methods improve the diagnosis and management of hypertension.
- They offer a more reliable assessment of cardiovascular health and treatment response.
Abstract:
Blood pressure measurements made in the physician's office with a mercury-column sphygmomanometer traditionally have been the standard for diagnosis of hypertension and determination of the efficacy of antihypertensive agents. The utility of this measurement is limited, however, by the characteristic variability of blood pressure; office blood pressure readings are not always reliable indicators of pressures occurring throughout the course of the day. Therefore, blood pressure measurements performed by patients or family members at home and automatic ambulatory blood pressure monitoring are two supplementary methods used in the clinical management of hypertension. In this article, the role of these methods in the diagnosis of hypertension and other cardiovascular disorders as well as in the evaluation of the efficacy of antihypertensive therapy is addressed.