Ambulatory BP changes diagnosis for one in seven

One in seven patients diagnosed with hypertension by their GP can be reclassified as normotensive with ambulatory blood pressure monitoring, a study from Ireland has shown.

A study of 931 primary care patients aged 50-69 years found that 15% of patients who had a systolic BP over 140mmHg recorded in the practice setting proved to be normotensive after undergoing 24-hour ambulatory BP monitoring (ABPM).

Conversely, 14% of patients who were normotensive according to office blood pressure measurements had hypertension unmasked by ABPM, the researchers reported in the Journal of Clinical