Control of hypertension in coronary heart disease

This observational study investigates, for the first time, the actual or out-of-office control of hypertension among coronary heart disease (CHD) patients, by using 24-h ambulatory BP monitoring (ABPM). We used the Spanish Society of Hypertension ABPM Registry, based on a large-scale network of primary-care physicians consecutively recruiting hypertensive patients with conventional clinical indications for ABPM. The average of two office BP measurements was used for analyses. Thereafter, 24-h ABPM was performed, using a SpaceLabs 90207 device. Out-of-office control of hypertension among 2434 treated essential hypertensive patients with clinically documented CHD was much higher (46.4%) than in-office BP control (28.7%). This considerable difference was partly due to the presence of 25.2% of patients with "office resistance", i.e., normal ambulatory BP but with high office BP despite treatment. Although further efforts in controlling BP are needed in CHD patients, physicians should be also comforted by BP results better than previously believed based on office data. (c) 2008 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.