Two-day home blood pressure monitoring may offer an alternative to costlier methods

Background Key benefits of home-based blood pressure measurements are the potential to reduce the risk of ‘white coat hypertension’, encouraging patients to take ownership of their condition and be more actively involved in their long-term condition care, and to move work out of the doctor’s office. Aim To assess whether performing 20 resting blood pressure measurements over a 2-day period would provide a reliable, stable representation of patients’ resting systolic and diastolic blood pressure. Following clinician recommendation, each participant completed the Stowhealth home blood pressure monitoring procedure. Method One thousand and forty-five participants (mean age 66±13 years, 531 women and 514 men) completed the procedure, of 10 resting measurements per day, for 2 days (20 resting systolic and diastolic blood pressure readings in total). All measurements were made using automated oscillometric monitors. Results Within-patient coefficient of variation for the entire participant cohort was 8% for systolic blood pressure (cohort mean 141±11 mm Hg), and 8% for diastolic blood pressure (cohort mean 79±6 mm Hg). There were no significant differences between the first and second day, for either systolic (142±1vs 141±1 mm Hg, respectively, p>0.05) or diastolic blood pressures (79±1vs 78±1 mm Hg, respectively, p>0.05 in both cases). Conclusion The overall duration of home blood pressure monitoring may be able to be reduced to just 48 hours. This method would offer meaningful time saving for patients, and financial and time benefits for doctors and their surgery administration.