ACCEPTANCE AND SIDE-EFFECTS OF AMBULATORY BLOOD-PRESSURE MONITORING -EVALUATION OF A NEW TECHNOLOGY

Ambulatory blood pressure (BP) monitoring is probably becoming a clini cally useful procedure for the evaluation of hypertensive patients. Pr evious reports have shown that the devices are safe and serious side e ffects are rare. Discomfort and inconveniences associated with its use are more frequent. In this study, patient acceptance of ambulatory bl ood pressure monitoring (ABPM) was compared with acceptance of other d iagnostic procedures and their side effects were assessed. Patients we re asked to fill in a form and 129 of 166 patients responded, The acce ptance was measured with a visual analogue scale which ranged from 've ry annoying' on the left to 'not annoying at all' on the right. All fo rms were collected anonymously. Mean distance (cm) of the visual liker t scale was 8.6 to 9.4 for the diagnostic procedures frequently used i n routine patient care. Ambulatory BP measurement (ABPM) scored 6.1 cm , Reported side effects (in 27% of patients) were: pain (9%), skin irr itation (8%), noisy device (8%), inconvenience with work (3%), haemato ma (2%) and other (4%). Reports from the patients on sleep quality wer e: 23% normal, 61% minor disturbance, 14% bad sleep, and 2% did not sl eep at all, It can be concluded that ambulatory BP monitoring was the diagnostic procedure with the lowest patient acceptance. Side effects of this new technology were reported by 27% of patients. However, risk s are relatively minor, Sleep disturbances were very frequent and was a serious problem for 16% of patients.