Evidence review for monitoring: Hypertension in adults: diagnosis and management

Excerpt

Once an individual has been diagnosed with hypertension, the person will be started on a treatment programme (both pharmacological and non-pharmacological) to lower blood pressure (BP). Individuals respond differently to different treatments and often combinations of multiple treatments are required to achieve the target blood pressure. It is therefore necessary to assess an individual’s response to treatment to identify those who might need additional or alternative treatment strategies.

Current practice for monitoring response is variable and involves a combination of home, ambulatory and clinic blood pressure measurements. Clinic blood pressure measurements are often higher than those observed with ambulatory or home measurements and are not necessarily a true representation of an individual’s day-to-day blood pressure. Ambulatory or home measurements may therefore provide a more accurate estimation of response to treatment and consequent reduction in cardiovascular events.