Ambulatory monitoring of blood pressure in patients with sleep-disordered breathing.

Patients with obstructive sleep apnea and other sleep-related breathing disorders that cause sleep disruption frequently present with abnormal circadian blood pressure patterns or frank hypertension. Ambulatory blood pressure monitoring has been useful in research documenting nocturnal hypertension and the normalization of blood pressure when sleep apnea is treated. In practice, similar measurements can provide a clue to the presence of an undiagnosed sleep disorder and can be valuable in following the blood pressure response to the treatment of sleep-disordered breathing.