[Diagnosis of systemic hypertension: evidences that current criteria should be revised]

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Measuring the Carotid to Femoral Pulse Wave Velocity (Cf-PWV) to Evaluate Arterial Stiffness
05:51

Measuring the Carotid to Femoral Pulse Wave Velocity (Cf-PWV) to Evaluate Arterial Stiffness

Published on: May 3, 2018

F D Fuchs1, J Lubianca Neto, R S Moraes

  • 1Unidade de Farmacologia Clínica, Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre, RS.

Revista Da Associacao Medica Brasileira (1992)
|July 1, 1997
PubMed

Insights

Diagnosing hypertension requires multiple blood pressure (BP) readings over several days. Initial high BP readings may decrease due to regression to the mean, potentially misclassifying patients.

Area of Science:

  • Cardiology
  • Clinical Pharmacology

Context:

  • Hypertension diagnosis traditionally relies on averaged blood pressure (BP) readings.
  • Lack of standardized guidelines for the number of BP readings needed for accurate hypertension diagnosis.
  • Outpatient hypertension clinics require consistent methods for BP assessment.

Purpose:

  • To describe the behavior of BP readings over three days in an outpatient hypertension clinic.
  • To evaluate the impact of repeated BP measurements on hypertension classification.
  • To inform diagnostic criteria for hypertension based on serial BP measurements.

Summary:

  • Mean systolic (SBP) and diastolic (DBP) blood pressures decreased significantly from the first to the sixth reading.
  • This decrease was primarily observed in patients with initially higher BP readings.
  • Regression to the mean and patient reactivity are potential explanations for the observed BP reduction.

Impact:

  • Findings support the need for multiple BP determinations, not a single reading, for hypertension diagnosis.
  • Suggests that diagnosing severe hypertension based on the first two readings may lead to misclassification.
  • Highlights the importance of standardized BP measurement protocols in clinical practice.
Abstract

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