Ambulatory and Home Blood Pressure Normality in the Elderly

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
To determine ambulatory blood pressure (BP) means and distributions in an elderly population, we studied a random sample of 800 subjects stratified by sex and representative of residents aged 65 to 74 years of the city of Monza. Participation was 50%. Measurements consisted of clinic BP (average of three measurements with mercury sphygmomanometry), home BP (average of morning and evening measurements with a semiautomatic device), and ambulatory BP (SpaceLabs 90207). Clinic BP was obtained before and after home and ambulatory BP measurements. In normotensive and untreated hypertensive subjects (n=248), clinic, home, and ambulatory BPs were significantly related (P<.001). The means of the clinic BPs obtained on consecutive days were very similar and markedly higher than 24-hour average BP (+25 mm Hg systolic and +10 mm Hg diastolic, P<.001). Nighttime BP was markedly less than daytime BP (−14 and −13 mm Hg, P<.001), whereas home BP values occurred approximately midway between clinic and 24-hour ave...