Long-term reproducibility of ambulatory blood pressure in unselected elderly subjects

• Published in: Clinical physiology (Oxford) 2001-05, Vol.21 (3), p.316-322
• Main Authors: Wendelin-Saarenhovi, Maria, Isoaho, Raimo, Hartiala, Jaakko, Helenius, Hans, Kivelä, Sirkka-Liisa, Hietanen, Eino
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Age Factors; Aged; ambulatory blood pressure; Biological and medical sciences; Blood Pressure Monitoring, Ambulatory - methods; Blood Pressure Monitoring, Ambulatory - standards; Cardiovascular system; Female; Humans; hypertension; Hypertension - diagnosis; Investigative techniques of hemodynamics; Investigative techniques, diagnostic techniques (general aspects); Male; Medical sciences; reproducibility of ABPM; Reproducibility of Results
• ISSN: 0144-5979; 1365-2281
• DOI: 10.1046/j.1365-2281.2001.00332.x

The aim of this study was to evaluate the long‐term reproducibility and validity of 24‐h ambulatory blood pressure measurements (ABPM) in an unselected elderly population. In a rural Finnish community 503 randomly chosen invited persons over 65 years of age participated and went through 24‐h ABPM. As part of the validation of the methodology, the reproducibility study was conducted in 26 persons (age 65–76 years). Two identical sets of measurement were performed at 4–12 (median 8) month intervals. The agreement between measurements was assessed by correlation coefficients and standard deviation (SD) of the differences. There were no significant differences in 24‐h, daytime and night‐time average diastolic blood pressure (DBP) and daytime average systolic blood pressure (SBP) between the two measurements. During the second measurement, 24‐h SBP and night‐time average SBP were slightly higher than those obtained by the first monitoring. Average 24‐h SBP and DBP were 18 and 7 mmHg lower, respectively, than office blood pressure averages. The correlation coefficients were significantly higher for 24‐h ambulatory blood pressure than for office blood pressure. The SD of the mean difference between visits was significantly lower for 24‐h ambulatory blood pressure than for office blood pressure measurements. These findings show that the long‐term reproducibility of ambulatory blood pressure is good in an elderly unselected population and better than the office blood pressure reproducibility.