Clinic BP measurements may miss many patients with masked hypertension

Clinic BP measurements may miss many patients with masked hypertension

Dr K K Aggarwal, National President IMA

According to a new research published in the journal Circulation, around the clock monitoring during daily activity revealed masked, or undetected, high blood pressure among otherwise healthy adults who had normal readings in the clinic.

In this study, researchers compared clinic blood pressure measurements to ambulatory blood pressure monitoring in 888 healthy, middle-aged participants enrolled in the Masked Hypertension Study at Stony Brook University and Columbia University in New York between 2005 and 2012. And 24-hour ambulatory BP monitoring during daily activities revealed undetected high BP among otherwise healthy adults who had normal readings in the clinic.

·         15.7% of study participants with normal clinic BP had masked hypertension based on ambulatory monitoring, regardless of sex, race, or ethnicity.

·         Younger, normal-weight participants were more likely than older, overweight participants to have ambulatory blood pressure readings higher than their clinic readings.

Based on these findings, the study authors advise doctors to be aware of the fact that normal BP readings in the clinic may not rule out high BP among otherwise healthy patients.

(Source: AHA Press Release, December 5, 2016)