Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Conventional blood pressure test has no prognostic value

Researchers enrolled 556 people aged 65 on average who had high blood pressure despite having been treated with anti-hypertensive drugs and followed up for 4.8 years to determine which form of blood pressure monitoring was a better predictor of risk of cardiovascular disease in people with medication-resistant high blood pressure.

They found that conventional surgery-measured BP did not predict strokes or heart attacks, but readings taken over 24-hour period could. Critics say conventional blood pressure testing by a GP remains essential and is invaluable in detecting and monitoring high blood pressure that often has no symptoms and is difficult to detect.

Source: Salles GF, Cardoso CRL, Muxfeldt ES. Prognostic Influence of Office and Ambulatory Blood Pressures in Resistant Hypertension. Archive of Internal Medicine 2008; 168: 2340-2346
(f/t via Athens)

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