6533b7d9fe1ef96bd126d5b4

RESEARCH PRODUCT

The Role of Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitoring in Diagnosis of Hypertension and Evaluation of Target Organ Damage

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description

The goal of blood pressure (BP) measurement in children and adolescents is to provide strategies for promoting cardiovascular health which should be integrated into a comprehensive pediatric health-care program. Blood pressure, however, is a parameter that changes on a beat-to-beat basis in response to a variety of physiological and environmental stimuli. Nevertheless, casual BP measurement has provided the basis for present knowledge of the potential risk associated with hypertension (1) and has guided patient management for many years (2). A few BP measurements obtained in the office, on the contrary, may not necessarily reflect the true BP of an individual. Subsequently, a better characterization of BP level and variability could lead to a better stratification of risk. This line of reasoning has led consequently to the development of methods that permit the acquisition of a large number of measurements under normal living conditions (3). The possibility of carrying out repeated ambulatory BP measurements using automatic or semiautomatic devices allows for the gathering of more representative values of BP and for observing the behavior of BP during both moments of activity and rest (4). Indeed, over the last few years ambulatory BP monitoring has been introduced in pediatric populations, contributing to a significant increase in the bulk of knowledge of crucial clinically relevant issues (5).