Blood Pressure Monitoring in Cardiovascular Disease

Abstract

While the practice of taking blood pressure readings at the physician’s office continues to be valid, home blood pressure monitoring is being increasingly used to enhance diagnostic accuracy and ensure a more personalized follow-up of patients. In the case of white coat hypertension and resistant arterial hypertension, ambulatory blood pressure monitoring is indispensable. Recent studies attach great importance to nocturnal blood pressure patterns, with a reduction in these becoming a treatment goal, a strategy known as chronotherapy. Home blood pressure monitoring is useful for both diagnosis and follow-up of arterial hypertension. Its use, particularly if combined with other patient-support interventions, serves to improve blood pressure control. Telemonitoring is associated with a decrease in blood pressure values and an increase in patient satisfaction. All studies highlight the importance of patients being supported by a multidisciplinary health care team, since blood pressure telemonitoring with a support team is more effective than simple data telemonitoring. Further studies are called for, especially on the illiterate population, with difficulties posed by technological accessibility and transcriptions into different languages. More cost-effectiveness studies and long-term results are needed to ascertain the true benefit of blood pressure telemonitoring.

Keywords

• ambulatory blood pressure
• cardiovascular medicine
• cardiovascular diseases
• hypertension
• telemedicine
• combined modality therapy
• telecommunications networks