National registry of hemoglobinopathies in Greece: updated demographics, current trends in affected births, and causes of mortality.

National registries constitute an invaluable source of information and contribute to the improvement of hemoglobinopathy management. Herein, we present the second updated report of the National Registry for Haemoglobinopathies in Greece (NRHG) and critically discuss the time trends in demographics, affected births, and causes of mortality. Thirty-eight Greek hemoglobinopathy units reported data from diagnosis to the last follow-up or death by retrospectively completing an electronic form.

Out-of-office blood pressure in children and adolescents: disparate findings by using home or ambulatory monitoring.

Background: The validity of home blood pressure (HBP) measurements in children has not been evaluated, although in clinical practice such measurements are being used. This study compares HBP, with clinic (CBP) and daytime ambulatory blood pressure (ABP) in children and adolescents.

Methods: Fifty-five children and adolescents aged 6 to 18 years were evaluated with CBP (three visits), HBP (6 days), and daytime ABP.

Assessment of drug effects on blood pressure and pulse pressure using clinic, home and ambulatory measurements.

This study investigated the differences in the effect of an angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor (ACEI) compared with an angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB) on blood pressure (BP) and pulse pressure (PP) measured in the clinic (CBP and CPP, respectively), at home (HBP, HPP) and with ambulatory monitoring (ABP, APP). Twenty-seven hypertensive patients were randomised to receive lisinopril (20 mg) or losartan (50 mg) for 5 weeks, and were subsequently crossed-over to the alternative treatment for a second 5-week period. Measurements of CBP, 24-h ABP and 5-days HBP were performed before randomisation and at the end of each treatment period.

Reproducibility of home, ambulatory, and clinic blood pressure: implications for the design of trials for the assessment of antihypertensive drug efficacy.

Background: The aims of this study were to compare the reproducibility of blood pressure (BP) measured in the clinic (CBP), at home (HBP), and by ambulatory monitoring (ABP), and to assess its implications on the accuracy of antihypertensive drug trials.

Methods: A total of 133 untreated subjects with elevated CBP were assessed with repeated measurements of CBP (five visits within 3 months), HBP (6 workdays within 2 weeks), and ABP (twice, 2 weeks apart). The reproducibility of CBP (one visit), HBP (2 days), and ABP (24 h) was quantified using the SD of differences (SDD) between repeated measurements.

Does the antihypertensive response to angiotensin converting enzyme inhibition predict the antihypertensive response to angiotensin receptor antagonism?

To test the hypothesis that the antihypertensive response to angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibition can predict the response to angiotensin II type I receptor (AT1R) antagonism, 33 hypertensive patients were randomized to receive lisinopril (20 mg) or losartan (50 mg) for 5 weeks. Patients were then crossed-over to the alternative treatment for a second 5-week period. Twenty-four-hour ambulatory BP (ABP) was measured before randomization and on the final day of each period.

Diagnosis of hypertension using home or ambulatory blood pressure monitoring: comparison with the conventional strategy based on repeated clinic blood pressure measurements.

Objective: To investigate whether measurement of blood pressure at home (HBP) and by ambulatory monitoring (ABP) are reliable alternatives to the traditional strategy for the diagnosis of hypertension based on blood pressure measurement on repeated clinic visits (CBP).

Design: Comparison of the diagnosis of hypertension based on HBP (on six workdays) or ABP monitoring (two occasions) with that based on CBP (five visits within 3 months).

Setting: Outpatient hypertension clinic.

Additive hypotensive effect of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibition and angiotensin-receptor antagonism in essential hypertension.

The study was designed to assess the antihypertensive effect of combined angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibition and angiotensin II type 1 receptor (AT1) antagonism in patients with essential hypertension. Twenty patients with uncontrolled ambulatory diastolic blood pressure (BP) after 6 weeks of ACE inhibitor monotherapy (benazepril, 20 mg, o.d.