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Clinical value of ambulatory blood pressure: Is it time to recommend for all patients with hypertension?

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Abstract

Hypertension is a very common disease, and office measurements of blood pressure are frequently inaccurate. Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitoring (ABPM) offers a more accurate diagnosis, more detailed readings of average blood pressures, better blood pressure measurement during sleep, fewer false positives by detecting more white-coat hypertension, and fewer false negatives by detecting more masked hypertension. ABPM offers better management of clinical outcomes. For example, based on more accurate measurements of blood pressure variability, ABPM demonstrates that taking antihypertensive medication at night leads to better controlled nocturnal blood pressure, which translates into less end organ damage and fewer clinical complications of hypertension. For these reasons, albeit some shortcomings which were discussed, ABPM should be considered as a first-line tool for diagnosing and managing hypertension.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Nephrology, Department of Internal Medicine, Sakarya University Training and Research Hospital, Sakarya, Turkey

    Yalcin Solak

  2. Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Jichi Medical University School of Medicine, Shimotsuke, Tochigi, Japan

    Kazuomi Kario

  3. Nephrology Clinic, Dialysis and Renal Transplant Center, ‘C.I. PARHON’ University Hospital, ‘Grigore T. Popa’ University of Medicine, Iasi, Romania

    Adrian Covic

  4. Division of Nephrology, Department of Medicine, Koc University School of Medicine, Sariyer, Istanbul, Turkey

    Nathan Bertelsen & Mehmet Kanbay

  5. Division of Nephrology, Department of Medicine, Konya Numune State Hospital, Konya, Turkey

    Baris Afsar

  6. Division of Nephrology, Department of Medicine, Istanbul Medeniyet University School of Medicine, Istanbul, Turkey

    Abdullah Ozkok

  7. Department of Nephrology, Transplantation and Internal Medicine, Medical University of Silesia, Katowice, Poland

    Andrzej Wiecek

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  1. Yalcin Solak
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  2. Kazuomi Kario
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  3. Adrian Covic
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  4. Nathan Bertelsen
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  8. Mehmet Kanbay
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Correspondence to Mehmet Kanbay.

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Solak, Y., Kario, K., Covic, A. et al. Clinical value of ambulatory blood pressure: Is it time to recommend for all patients with hypertension?. Clin Exp Nephrol 20, 14–22 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10157-015-1184-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10157-015-1184-1

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