Peripheral blood pressure by Dinamap and central blood pressure by applanation tonometry in outpatient general practice.

Introduction: Central blood pressure (CBP) is the pressure exerted by the blood column at any given moment on the aortic and carotid artery walls, which is a close proxy for the blood pressure inside the brain and the heart, and is thus a better marker of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality than peripheral blood pressure (PBP).

Objective: To assess how the augmentation index (AI), peripheral pulse pressure (pPP), central pulse pressure (cPP) and subendocardial viability ratio (SEVR) vary in hypertensive patients according to level of control of CBP and PBP.

Methods: We performed an observational, cross-sectional study in a convenience sample from a general practice in Central Portugal over a period of four days in May 2010.