Utility of blood pressure monitoring outside of the clinic setting.

and Article Review Process Specific inclusion and exclusion criteria were applied at each of three levels of review (two levels of abstract review, then article review). Inclusion criteria became more stringent at each level. The titles and abstracts were reviewed for each article identified. During the abstract review process, emphasis was placed on identifying all articles that may possibly have original data pertinent to the questions. For the first-level abstract review, titles and abstracts for all articles retrieved by the literature search were printed on an abstract form and distributed to two reviewers. Because of the extensive volume of literature, a second level abstract review, at which additional exclusion criteria were applied, was necessary. Citations deemed eligible for full article review based on the initial abstract review were printed onto the second level abstract form and distributed to two reviewers. The purpose of the article review was to confirm the relevance of each article to the research questions, to determine methodological characteristics pertaining to study quality, and to collect evidence that addressed the research questions. Because of the large number of citations that remained eligible for full article review even after the second level abstract review, additional exclusion criteria were applied at the article review level. The final full list of exclusion criteria differed by question. For instance, for question 1a, a comparison of BP by the different techniques, the criterion of more than 1 day of measurement for clinic BP was added because an average clinic BP based on just 1 day of measurements (typically just one to three readings) is extremely imprecise and could lead to a biased comparison with ABP or SMBP. Article review forms were developed to collect data in a standardized fashion. This process was complex and time consuming due to the heterogeneity of the literature and the diverse questions being addressed. These forms then guided article review. For each of the articles deemed potentially eligible after second-level abstract review, two reviewers read the article, confirmed eligibility status, abstracted key information, and assessed study quality on several dimensions. Because of heterogeneity in study design, data collection forms and elements differed by research question. Presentation of Results Evidence tables that summarize aspects of study quality, characteristics of the study population, and features of BP measurement were constructed. For most research questions, these summary tables were similar. However, the evidence tables that display study results differed substantially by research question. Qualitative summaries were prepared which synthesized the evidence and included, to a limited extent, a quantitative assessment (for example, the number/percent of studies with significant associations, overall and occasionally by relevant study characteristics). A draft version of the report was distributed to the partner, the technical advisory group, and other peer reviewers. All substantive comments were collated, the responses of the EPC team summarized, and edits were made to the report as appropriate.