Effect of verapamil on home self-measurement of blood pressure and heart rate in hypertensive patients

Background Achievement of a controlled blood pressure and improvement of ca rdiovascular risk profile are the mainstays of therapy for hypertension, Objective To assess the responses of heart rate and blood pressure in hyper tensive patients to 240 mg/day sustained release verapamil, Methods We assessed the effect of 240 mg/day sustained released verapamil o n blood pressure and heart rate, measured in the office and at home, in 139 5 hypertensive outpatients with mild-to-moderate hypertension, who were usi ng an Omron HEM 705 CP automatic device for self-measurement, The period of observation was 3 months. Results Blood pressure decreased both in the medical office and at the pati ent's home, the measurements obtained at home being lower than those found in the office. Heart rate decreased in a significant and particular way. Th e decrease was greatest among those patients with histories of myocardial i nfarction and among relatively young patients, who exhibit a tendency towar ds higher than normal baseline heart rates. Overall, there was a shift of t he heart-rate curve towards more controlled levels clustered around heart r ates between 65 and 75 beats/min. Home self-measurement showed that the dat a gathered by the patients at home are reliable and that, when cut-off valu es of 140/90 mmHg for blood pressure are used, the percentage of patients w ith controlled blood pressures is 62%, whereas the percentage obtained in t he medical office by the physician is 56%. If cut-off values of 135/85 mmHg are considered for self-measurements at home, according to the VI JNC reco mmendations, the percentage of patients with controlled blood pressures is 25.4%, (C) 2000 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.