Blood Pressure Measurement

Blood pressure is described as a dynamic measurement whose appropriate target can vary by individual context. Bland-Altman analysis showed that health-centre readings were on average lower than community readings, with wide individual variability. A single blood pressure measurement has been shown to overestimate hypertension prevalence by 12.6% compared to repeated measurement approaches. For clinic readings in the 140s or near 150 mmHg, the article recommends two weeks of home monitoring at least three times per day. Repeated community measurements showed high within-individual reliability, with an intraclass correlation coefficient of 0.96 for systolic blood pressure. A large share of clinical blood pressure readings do not reflect a patient's true baseline. Approximately 35% of participants whose community blood pressure was at or above 190/140 mm Hg had normal readings at the health-centre follow-up, a pattern the study interpreted as possibly indicating masked or white-coat hypertension. Blood pressure was measured by trained healthcare professionals in the morning on examination days. From 2006 to 2012, blood pressure was measured with a calibrated desktop mercury sphygmoma…