[Outpatient blood pressure monitoring is not always necessary]

Abstract

It is clear that clinical measurements of blood pressure can lead to errors in the diagnostic process and follow-up of patients with hypertension. Scientific societies recommend other measurement methods, such as home measurements and outpatient monitoring. Outpatient monitoring might be the golden standard but, nowadays has an important limitation-its availability. Home measurements solve 80-90% of the doubts of the diagnostic process and follow-up of patients with hypertension, and its higher availability and acceptance by the patient are clear. Home measurements should be used in the diagnostic process of arterial hypertension as a screening test for white coat hypertension and masked hypertension. They should be used as a screening test for resistant hypertension in the follow-up of patients with high blood pressure. Besides, in the follow-up of patients with hypertension home measurements have shown that they can contribute to treatment adherence, reduce clinical inertia and make data teletransmission possible, aspects that have proven to help improve the degree of control of hypertensive patients. Therefore, home measurements would be the treatment of choice for the diagnosis and follow-up of most patients with hypertension. We should consider home measurements and outpatient monitoring as complementary methods for the diagnosis and follow-up of patients with high blood pressure.

Keywords: Arterial hypertension; Diagnosis; Diagnóstico; Follow-up; Hipertensión arterial; Home measurements; Medidas domiciliarias; Seguimiento.