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Are Unattended Blood Pressure Measurements Necessary in All Patients Visiting an Outpatient Cardiology Clinic?

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Abstract

Introduction

Unattended automatic office blood pressure (BP) measurement has given new evidence regarding treatment goals.

Aim

We aimed to explore any differences between unattended and conventional office BP measurements in different groups of patients visiting a European Society of Hypertension (ESH)  Excellence Centre.

Methods

We performed two unattended (Microlife Watch BP Home) followed by a single attended (mercury sphygmomanometer) BP measurement in 310 patients (mean age 62 ± 15 years, 151 males, 64% hypertensives and 36% normotensive individuals) visiting our ESH Centre for a scheduled follow-up. Office BP < 140 mmHg (systolic) and < 90 mmHg (diastolic) were characterized as controlled or normal in hypertensives and normotensive individuals, respectively.

Results

Attended BP (systolic/diastolic) was higher than unattended BP in total population (p < 0.001 and p = 0.02) and hypertensives (p < 0.001). In hypertensives, attended BP was higher than unattended BP regardless of age, smoking habit, obesity or controlled BP status but it was similar to unattended in diabetic patients. In normotensive individuals, attended BP was higher than unattended BP in older (p = 0.04), non-smoker (p = 0.002) and non-diabetic (p = 0.02) subjects. Finally, unattended BP was important for treatment decisions only in a small group of non-diabetic hypertensive patients (7%) whose unattended BP was controlled while attended BP was uncontrolled.

Conclusions

Unattended BP was lower than attended BP in the majority of hypertensive patients. However, it was useful only in a small percentage of non diabetic hypertensive patients in order to take appropriate treatment plan decisions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. 2nd Department of Cardiology, Medical School, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Attikon Hospital, 83, Agiou Ioannou Theologou, Holargos, 155 61, Athens, Greece

    Helen Triantafyllidi, Dimitris Voutsinos, Konstantina Sioula, Antonios Schoinas, Dimitris Benas, Dionysia Birmpa & Ignatios Ikonomidis

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  1. Helen Triantafyllidi
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  2. Dimitris Voutsinos
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Correspondence to Helen Triantafyllidi.

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Triantafyllidi, H., Voutsinos, D., Sioula, K. et al. Are Unattended Blood Pressure Measurements Necessary in All Patients Visiting an Outpatient Cardiology Clinic?. High Blood Press Cardiovasc Prev 27, 389–397 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40292-020-00402-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40292-020-00402-0

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