Pb. Bottini et al., AUTOMATED BLOOD-PRESSURE MONITORING - SHOULD IT BE USED ROUTINELY IN MANAGING HYPERTENSION, Postgraduate medicine, 95(6), 1994, pp. 89
Twenty-four-hour automated blood pressure measurements are representat
ive of and more reliable than casual office blood pressure measurement
s; they also are more closely correlated with evidence of target-organ
damage caused by hypertension and may have better diagnostic specific
ity. Nevertheless, broad use of automated monitoring in the routine ev
aluation and management of hypertension has been discouraged because o
f the lack of prospective epidemiologic studies automated measurements
to cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, the inability to define a
normal range for such measurements, and the cost of the monitoring. Ho
wever, if it is accepted that conventions established for casual offic
e blood pressure measurements are applicable to data obtained by autom
ated methods, then routine use of automated monitoring is justified, s
ince automated monitoring has better diagnostic capabilities that offs
et much of its cost.