Home measurement of blood pressure and cardiovascular disease

OBJECTIVE: Examine the relationship between home blood pressure (BP) and risk for all-cause mortality, cardiovascular mortality and cardiovascular events. METHODS: We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of prospective studies of home BP. Primary outcomes were all-cause mortality, cardiovascular mortality and cardiovascular events. We extracted hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) which were pooled with a random-effects model. Heterogeneity was assessed using the I statistic. RESULTS: We identified eight studies with 17 698 participants. Follow-up was 3.2-10.9 years. For all-cause mortality (n = 747) the hazard ratio for home BP was 1.14 (95% CI 1.01-1.29) per 10 mmHg increase in systolic BP compared to 1.07 (0.91-1.26) for office BP. For cardiovascular mortality (n = 193) the hazard ratio for home BP was 1.29 (1.02-1.64) per 10 mmHg increase in systolic BP compared to 1.15 (0.91-1.46) for office BP. For cardiovascular events (n = 699) the hazard ratio for home BP was 1.14 (1.09-1.20) per 10 mmHg increase in systolic BP compared to 1.10 (1.06-1.15) for office BP. In three studies which adjusted for office and home BP the hazard ratio was 1.20 (1.11-1.30) per 10 mmHg increase in systolic BP for home BP adjusted for office BP compared to 0.99 (0.93-1.07) per 10 mmHg increase in systolic BP for office BP adjusted for home BP. Diastolic results were similar. CONCLUSIONS: Home BP remained a significant predictor of cardiovascular mortality and cardiovascular events after adjusting for office BP suggesting it is an important prognostic variable over and above that of office BP.