How long you should carry out home blood pressure monitoring (HBPM) to aid a diagnosis of hypertension?
Current NICE guidance states:
When using HBPM to confirm a diagnosis of hypertension, ensure that:
- for each blood pressure recording, two consecutive measurements are taken, at least 1 minute apart and with the person seated and
- blood pressure is recorded twice daily, ideally in the morning and evening and
- blood pressure recording continues for at least 4 days, ideally for 7 days.
Discard the measurements taken on the first day and use the average value of all the remaining measurements to confirm a diagnosis of hypertension.
The length of time to monitor for “at least 4 days, ideally for 7 days” suggests that their is no clear consensus.
My colleague David Nunan has written a blog on some of the recent work he and other colleagues have been doing which suggests 5 days of HBPM may be enough. Have a read for yourself here.
Kamal R. Mahtani 