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[How much is the decrease in blood pressure shown by repeated measurements during the same examination?]
R Mo1, P Lund-Johansen, P Omvik
1Hjerteavdelingen Haukeland sykehus, Bergen.
Insights
Repeated blood pressure measurements significantly lower readings, particularly in hypertensive individuals. This finding supports using multiple readings for accurate hypertension diagnosis and treatment.
Area of Science:
- Cardiology
- Clinical Measurement
Context:
- Standard blood pressure measurement protocols often recommend repeated readings.
- Accurate blood pressure determination is crucial for diagnosing hypertension and guiding treatment.
Purpose:
- To investigate the effect of repeated blood pressure measurements on readings in an adult population.
- To determine if blood pressure decreases with sequential measurements and analyze factors influencing this change.
Summary:
- Three sequential blood pressure recordings were taken at one-minute intervals in 430 adults (aged 56-87).
- On average, blood pressure decreased by 10/3 mmHg from the first to the third reading (p < 0.001).
- This decrease was more significant in hypertensive individuals (12/4 mmHg) than normotensive individuals (7/2 mmHg) and minimally affected by sex, age, or BMI.
Impact:
- A 10/3 mmHg decrease is clinically relevant for cardiovascular disease risk assessment, hypertension diagnosis, and antihypertensive therapy adjustments.
- Implementing repeated measurements can reduce false positives in hypertension diagnosis.
- This study advocates for repeated measurements as a standard procedure in conventional blood pressure determination.
Abstract:
The recommendations for blood pressure determination by sphygmomanometer encourage repeated measurements. In 430 subjects aged 56-87 years, three recordings were obtained at one minute intervals. On average, the blood pressure decreased 10/3 mm Hg from the first to the third recording (p < 0.001). The decrease was more pronounced in hypertensives (12/4 mmHg) than in normotensives (7/2 mm Hg) (p < 0.01), but was little influenced by sex, age, or body mass. A change of 10/3 mm Hg is relevant with respect to the risk of cardiovascular disease, diagnosis of hypertension, and antihypertensive therapy. Also, repeated measurements may reduce the number of falsely positive hypertensives, and is recommended as the standard procedure in conventional blood pressure determination.