RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 The Effective Diagnosis And Treatment Of Hypertension By The Primary Care Physician: Impact Of Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitoring
JF The Journal of the American Board of Family
                Practice
JO J Am Board Fam Med
FD American Board of Family Medicine
SP 457
OP 465
DO 10.3122/jabfm.5.5.457
VO 5
IS 5
A1 Ferguson, Jeffrey H.
A1 Shaar, Carl J.
YR 1992
UL http://www.jabfm.org/content/5/5/457.abstract
AB Background: Ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) has been described as an effective method for the diagnosis and formulation of the treatment of hypertension by the primary care physician. Methods: Sixty patients selected from a suburban private primary care practice participated in a study that compared measurements of office blood pressures using a mercury sphygmomanometer with the same pressures recorded by ABPM. Results: Blood pressures and blood pressure loads measured by ABPM were significantly lower than blood pressures and pressure loads recorded in the office setting. Conclusions: Blood pressure recorded by ABPM differed from the same measurements made by office or casual sphygmomanometry. Use of ABPM changed diagnosis or treatment of hypertension in borderline and antihypertensive drug-treated patients. Ambulatory blood pressure monitoring is a useful tool for the diagnosis and treatment of hypertension by the primary care physician. It can be used to identify white-coat hypertension in various patient populations.