A COMPARISON BETWEEN CONVENTIONAL AND 24-HOUR AUTOMATIC BLOOD-PRESSURE MONITORING IN HYPERTENSIVE PREGNANCY

Objective. To map the conformity between 24-hour and conventional bloo d pressure (BP) monitoring (24BPM, CBPM) in pregnancy. Study design. P rospective comparative. Material and methods. A standardized single BP measurement and parallel 24BPM and CBPM were carried out in 99 women (125 recordings) hospitalized for hypertension. Results. Except for BP oscillation amplitude, corresponding variables correlated significant ly between the methods. The mean systolic BP (SEP) was significantly h igher with 24BPM compared with both CBPM (3.1 mmHg) and with the singl e BP measurement (4.6 mmHg). The mean diastolic BP (DBP) was significa ntly lower with 24BPM compared with CBPM (2.4 mmHg) and with the singl e measurement (2.7 mmHg). If a cut-off at 140/90 mmHg had been used fo r the diagnosis of hypertension and with 24BPM as the golden standard, a false positive/negative diagnosis would have resulted in 35%/20% of cases with the single BP measurement, and in 24%/17% with CBPM. Concl usions. 24BPM and CBPM gave significantly correlated but different val ues of the BP. The differences were small in terms of absolute mm Hg v alues, but resulted in a high rate of false positive and false negativ e diagnoses of hypertension. 24BPM cannot substitute the traditional m ethods for BP monitoring in pregnancy unless a new definition of hyper tension is established.