Automated office blood pressure measurement for routine clinical practice

Good correlation with out-of-office readings, virtual elimination of white-coat effect

An accurate blood pressure (BP) reading can be obtained if measurement guidelines are followed properly. However, BP readings recorded in routine clinical practice are often inaccurate and much higher than mean awake ambulatory BP values and readings obtained by home measurement. In studies that have included data on office BP readings that were recorded manually in routine clinical practice (ie, not in the context of a research study),1,2 mean office BP readings are about 10/5 mmHg higher than mean awake ambulatory BP values and home BP readings. Several factors contribute to the poor quality of manually recorded office readings, including the anxiety patients experience in the doctor’s office, poor measurement technique and patient–observer interaction. The development of a new class of automated sphygmomanometers has made it possible to eliminate many of these factors, with the result being more accurate office BP measurement that is less subject to white-coat effect (office-induced hypertension).