Assessment of Resistant Hypertension with Home Blood Pressure Monitoring

Background: Ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) is considered the gold standard for the diagnostic confirmation of resistant hypertension (RH). However, home blood pressure monitoring (HBPM) has been considered an option, because of its lower cost and greater comfort. Objective: To compare the values obtained by HBPM with those obtained by ABPM in the identification of patients with resistant hypertension. Methods: A total of 51 consecutive patients with resistant hypertension were selected. An were adults of both genders and were undergoing treatment in an outpatient referral clinic from January 2007 to September 2009. Casual office blood pressure (BP), 24-hour ABPM, and HBPM were performed according to current guidelines, with a maximum two-week interval between the methods. Results: The comparison of ABPM (mean daytime) with HBPM showed a good correlation between them, both for systolic blood pressure (SBP) and for diastolic blood pressure (DBP): SBP r = 0.70, CI = 0.51-0.82, DBP r = 0.69, CI = 0.52-0.81. RH was confirmed by ABPM in 33 patients and by HBPM in 37, with no significant difference between the methods. Conclusion: According to the results obtained, we conclude that HBPM is a method that can be used as an alternative to ABPM for the diagnostic confirmation of RH. (Arq Bras Cardiol 2010; 95(4): 536-540)