LONGITUDINAL-STUDIES OF REPRODUCIBILITY AND VARIABILITY OF INDIRECT (OSCILLOMETRIC) BLOOD-PRESSURE MEASUREMENTS IN DOGS - EVIDENCE FOR TRACKING

To be clinically reliable, blood pressure readings taken in quiet surr oundings with good technique from healthy, unstressed subjects accusto med to the procedure, should be reasonably constant between occasions. Apart from changes attributable to age or stress, sustained rises sug gest hypertension. Yet it is increasingly realised that arterial press ure shows great short-term lability. Despite this, 'tracking' occurs i n groups of humans, i.e. when ranked by blood pressure they tend to ma intain their rank order. This paper examines month-on-month variabilit y of arterial pressure, measured by non-invasive oscillometry (Dinamap ) in both pet dogs and kennel populations. 'Tracking' occurred and the re was also evidence of 'white coat' effects. Heart rate was more vari able than arterial pressure and should not be used to reject pressure readings unless changes are extreme. There was further evidence that c anine blood pressure rises with age.