Use of Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitor (ABPM) for guiding cardiac patient management

摘要

Twenty-four-hours ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) has been a useful tool to assess variability in blood pressure beyond office checks or self-measurement. We decided to investigate the impact of ambulatory blood pressure monitoring on patient management. Our retrospective study included 633 studies on 364 patients over the span of over 18 years. The study sample was 62% male and 38% female and ranged from 18 to 96 years of age. The common indication for applying the ABPM test was uncertainty of blood pressure fluctuations. In patients who had more than one test, the shortest span between tests was 7 months. Tests were classified as normal (exhibiting satisfactory distribution of blood pressure with minimal deviation), as abnormal high (three or more readings over 140 mmHg, or as abnormal low (three or more readings below 80 mmHg). The results showed that approximately 52% of the ABPM tests conducted indicated a hidden blood pressure abnormality. We also analysed the distribution of blood pressure abnormalities throughout the twenty-four hours recording by the time of day of their occurrence and the subsequent effect on physician recommendations. In conclusion, 24-hours ambulatory blood pressure monitoring is a very valuable tool in assessing uncertainties of blood pressure control.