Implementation of Home Blood Pressure Monitoring in Clinical Practice

Abstract

To investigate the implementation of home blood pressure monitoring (HBPM) guidelines, a phone survey was performed in 366 primary care physicians (PCPs). Of the PCPs, 90% routinely used HBPM for white-coat hypertension, treatment titration, and diagnosis. Thirty percent trusted HBPM more than office measurements. Reported drawbacks were questionable reliability of patients’ reports and devices inaccuracy. Thirty-one percent advised patients on device selection, 38% were aware of validated devices, and 69% reviewed (not averaged) the readings. Seventy-nine percent used higher than recommended threshold for hypertension diagnosis. Although PCPs routinely use HBPM, there are important gaps in their knowledge and educational activities are required.

• home blood pressure
• self-measurement
• hypertension
• guidelines
• implementation

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

We are thankful to Mr Renaud Fay, pharmacist and biostatistician, CIC-P-INSERM, Nancy Clinical Investigation Center for performing data analysis.

Declaration of interest

The authors report no conflict of interest and are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.

Part of these results has been presented at the 22nd Meeting of the European Society of Hypertension, London, April 2012.