SELF BLOOD-PRESSURE MEASUREMENT AT HOME

Forty-six untreated patients measured their blood pressure at home for three weeks using an A and D, UA 751 automatic device, and were exami ned three times at the outpatient clinic. Home blood pressure was sign ificantly lower than clinic blood pressure, even at the third visit wh en the correlations between clinic and home values were the most signi ficant. The differences between clinic and home values had a gaussian distribution. The variance analysis of home blood pressure values show ed that 67 % of the variance was attributable to the between-subject c omponent, 2 % to the day effect, 15 % to the time of the day effect an d 16 % to the residual (the measurement error). The standard deviation of the difference between two five-day periods of self blood pressure monitoring at home (5.4 and 4.1 mm Hg) was much lower than what has b een reported for clinic measurements or 24-hour ambulatory monitoring.