6533b7d3fe1ef96bd1261213

RESEARCH PRODUCT

Blood Pressure Measurement Before and After Intervention

subject

description

The complexity and the uncertainties about long-term effect of the invasive interventions to treat essential hypertension (HTN) require a precise diagnosis about the real “resistance” to the antihypertensive treatment given, and it is defined when a therapeutic strategy that includes appropriate lifestyle measures plus a diuretic and two other antihypertensive drugs belonging to different classes at adequate doses fails to lower systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) values to <140 and 90 mmHg, respectively. Consequently, in the process of diagnosis and follow-up, blood pressure (BP) measurement is the first step that is not exempt of difficulties due to the variability of BP as a parameter. It has long been known that BP is characterized by an array of spontaneous variations. BP values vary markedly within the 24 h because of day-night changes but also because of differences among hours, minutes, and even adjacent beats. They also show variations over more prolonged periods because of differences among days, months, and season [1]. Even though it has been discussed, the prognostic relevance of the different kinds of variability in the case of resistant hypertension is a challenge at the time of evaluation. Several factors have been associated to the high day-to-day variability of patients with resistant hypertension and among them the number of drugs prescribed [2]. Therefore, more precise BP is mandatory in order to take the right decisions.