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Original Article

Optimizing blood pressure control in hypertension: The need to use ABPM

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Pages 65-72 | Received 01 Jun 2012, Accepted 09 Aug 2012, Published online: 04 Oct 2012
 

Abstract

Hypertension is the most prevalent, treatable cause of cardiovascular (CV) disease. Patients with hypertension and one or more comorbidities increasingly form a significant part of the primary care practitioner's caseload. The emphasis on intensive blood pressure (BP) lowering has softened, encouraging any degree of BP lowering, since any fall in BP is beneficial for reducing CV risk. Consistency of BP control during long-term therapy (i.e. low visit-to-visit variability) and decreasing BP variability over 24-h may be as, if not more, important than degree of BP lowering per se. Fluctuations in BP between visits as well as within a 24-h period have been associated with increased CV risk. Ambulatory BP monitoring (ABPM) is a crucial element of the clinician's armamentarium not only for assessing the “true” BP load and fluctuations under real-life conditions but for identification of various abnormal BP patterns that may require attention, including white- coat hypertension, masked hypertension, non-dipping and the morning BP surge. ABPM provides accurate assessment of treatment effectiveness over 24-h and may lead to better tailoring of therapy. This article reviews the benefits of ABPM and discusses the importance of selecting long-acting antihypertensive agents for optimizing BP control.

Acknowledgements

Takeda Pharmaceuticals Europe Ltd has provided an educational grant to support the production of this manuscript, including provision of editorial support by Virgo HEALTH. Takeda Pharmaceuticals Europe Ltd had no control over the article's content at any stage.

Conflicts of interest and source of funding: Professor Schmieder received grants, consultancy and lecture fees from Takeda. Marina Lehmann and Stephanie Schmidt have no conflicts of interest.

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