European Society of Hypertension position paper on ambulatory blood pressure monitoring.

Ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) is being used increasingly in both clinical practice and hypertension research. Although there are many guidelines that emphasize the indications for ABPM, there is no comprehensive guideline dealing with all aspects of the technique. It was agreed at a consensus meeting on ABPM in Milan in 2011 that the 34 attendees should prepare a comprehensive position paper on the scientific evidence for ABPM.

Adiposity, blood pressure, and carotid intima-media thickness in greek adolescents.

Objective: In children and adolescents with cardiovascular risk factors, the assessment of subclinical target-organ damage is of paramount importance. This study investigated factors associated with carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT) in adolescents.

Design And Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed in 448 apparently healthy adolescents recruited from schools (mean age 14 ± 2.

Automated measurement of office, home and ambulatory blood pressure in atrial fibrillation.

1. Hypertension and atrial fibrillation (AF) often coexist and are strong risk factors for stroke. Current guidelines for blood pressure (BP) measurement in AF recommend repeated measurements using the auscultatory method, whereas the accuracy of the automated devices is regarded as questionable.

Identification of the hemodynamic modulators and hemodynamic status in uncontrolled hypertensive patients.

Only 20-30% out of the treated hypertensive patients in Europe are achieving blood pressure (BP) control. Among other recognized factors, these poor results could be attributable to the fact that for many doctors it is very difficult to detect which is the predominant hemodynamic cause of the hypertension (hypervolemia, hyperinotropy or vasoconstriction). The aim of the study was to use non-invasive thoracic electrical bioimpedance (TEB) to evaluate hemodynamic modulators and subsequent hemodynamic status in uncontrolled hypertensive patients, receiving at least two antihypertensive drugs.

Implementation of home blood pressure monitoring in clinical practice.

To investigate the implementation of home blood pressure monitoring (HBPM) guidelines, a phone survey was performed in 366 primary care physicians (PCPs). Of the PCPs, 90% routinely used HBPM for white-coat hypertension, treatment titration, and diagnosis. Thirty percent trusted HBPM more than office measurements.

Ambulatory and home blood pressure monitoring in children and adolescents: diagnosis of hypertension and assessment of target-organ damage.

The prevalence of elevated blood pressure in children and adolescents is more common than previously believed and often represents the early onset of essential hypertension, particularly in adolescents. The definition of hypertension in children is based on distribution criteria and normalcy tables that provide blood pressure percentiles for each measurement method (office, ambulatory and home) according to the individual's age, gender and body size. Owing to the white coat and masked hypertension phenomena, ambulatory blood pressure monitoring is indispensable for the diagnosis of hypertension in children.

Asleep home blood pressure monitoring in obstructive sleep apnea: a pilot study.

Background: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is known to be related to nocturnal blood pressure (BP) and nondipping hypertension. This pilot study evaluated night-time BP assessed using a home monitor in patients with OSA.

Participants And Methods: Patients referred to a sleep clinic were subjected to polysomnography, clinic BP measurements, and home BP monitoring using a device that allows daytime (3 days, two duplicate readings per day) and automated night-time BP measurement (3 nights, three readings per night).

Outcome-driven thresholds for home blood pressure measurement: international database of home blood pressure in relation to cardiovascular outcome.

The lack of outcome-driven operational thresholds limits the clinical application of home blood pressure (BP) measurement. Our objective was to determine an outcome-driven reference frame for home BP measurement. We measured home and clinic BP in 6470 participants (mean age, 59.

Automated blood pressure measurement in atrial fibrillation: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Objective: The measurement of blood pressure in atrial fibrillation is considered as difficult and uncertain, and current guidelines recommend the use of the auscultatory method. The accuracy of automated blood pressure monitors in atrial fibrillation remains controversial.

Method: A systematic review and meta-analysis was performed of studies comparing automated (oscillometric or automated Korotkov) versus manual auscultatory blood pressure measurements (mercury or aneroid sphygmomanometer) in patients with sustained atrial fibrillation.

The International Database of HOme blood pressure in relation to Cardiovascular Outcome (IDHOCO): moving from baseline characteristics to research perspectives.

The objective of this study is to construct an International Database of HOme blood pressure in relation to Cardiovascular Outcome (IDHOCO). The main goal of this database is to determine outcome-based diagnostic thresholds for the self-measured home blood pressure (BP). Secondary objectives include investigating the predictive value of white-coat and masked hypertension, morning and evening BP, BP and heart rate variability, and the home arterial stiffness index.

Assessment of the diurnal blood pressure profile and detection of non-dippers based on home or ambulatory monitoring.

Background: A unique advantage of ambulatory blood pressure (ABP) monitoring is the assessment of nocturnal blood pressure (BP) and the detection of non-dippers. This study assessed nocturnal BP and non-dippers using a novel home BP (HBP) monitor.

Methods: Eighty-one hypertensives performed within 2 weeks ABP (24-h, Microlife WatchBP O3) and HBP monitoring (Microlife WatchBPN) during daytime (6 days, duplicate morning and evening measurements) and nighttime (automated asleep measurements, 3 nights, 3 readings/night).

Feasibility and reproducibility of noninvasive 24-h ambulatory aortic blood pressure monitoring with a brachial cuff-based oscillometric device.

Background: Accumulating evidence suggests the potential superiority of office aortic blood pressure (BP) over brachial in the management of arterial hypertension. The noninvasive aortic 24-h ambulatory brachial BP monitoring (ABPM) is potentially the optimal method for assessing BP profile. The objective of the present study was to investigate the feasibility and reproducibility to perform noninvasively 24-h aortic ABPM with a novel validated brachial cuff-based automatic oscillometric device (Mobilo-O-Graph) which records brachial BP and waveforms and assesses aortic BP via mathematical transformation.

Ambulatory arterial stiffness index: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Objective: The dynamic relationship between 24 h diastolic and systolic ambulatory blood pressure (BP) expressed by the ambulatory arterial stiffness index (AASI) has been introduced as a novel measure of arterial function, which independently predicts cardiovascular mortality. This article reviews the published evidence on the features and the clinical relevance of AASI.

Methods: A systematic review and meta-analysis of the evidence on AASI from 51 cross-sectional and longitudinal studies in adults was conducted.

Home versus ambulatory and office blood pressure in predicting target organ damage in hypertension: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Objective: Studies have shown that ambulatory blood pressure (BP) is more closely related to preclinical target organ damage than office measurements. A review and meta-analysis of studies investigating the association of home BP measurements with target organ damage was performed.

Methods: A PubMed and Cochrane Library search (1950-2011) revealed 23 studies reporting comparative data of home BP versus ambulatory and/or office measurements in terms of their association with several indices of target organ damage.

Automatic office blood pressure measured without doctors or nurses present.

Background: We evaluated the agreement between office blood pressure (OBP) measured by a mercury sphygmomanometer (Sphyg) and an automatic (Auto) device without any observers, and compared Auto and Sphyg OBP with ambulatory blood pressure (ABP) and home blood pressure (HBP).

Methods: OBP was measured in 75 hypertensive patients at two sites using an automatic monitor without a doctor or a nurse present and by Sphyg during three clinic visits. Between visits, monitoring of ABP and HBP was also performed.

Diagnostic accuracy of home vs. ambulatory blood pressure monitoring in untreated and treated hypertension.

Several studies with relatively small size and different design and end points have investigated the diagnostic ability of home blood pressure (HBP). This study investigated the usefulness of HBP compared with ambulatory monitoring (ABP) in diagnosing sustained hypertension, white coat phenomenon (WCP) and masked hypertension (MH) in a large sample of untreated and treated subjects using a blood pressure (BP) measurement protocol according to the current guidelines. A total of 613 subjects attending a hypertension clinic (mean age 53±12.

Obesity and associated cardiovascular risk factors among schoolchildren in Greece: a cross-sectional study and review of the literature.

Objective: To examine the prevalence and determinants of obesity and associated cardiovascular risk factors in a sample of Greek children.

Methods: This is a cross-sectional, school-based study of 780 students (9.2 +/- 1.