A Comparison of Office Blood Pressure, Telemedical Home Blood Pressure and Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitoring

Background: Telemonitoring of home blood pressure (HBP) is a new advance in blood pressure monitoring. The aim of this study was to compare office blood pressure (OBP) and telemedical home blood pressure with daytime ambulatory blood pressure (ABP). Methods: One hundred and two patients were recruited consecutively from our Renal Outpatients’ Clinic. Office blood pressure was measured three times with the HBP equipment (A&D UA-767Plus BT). Telemonitoring of HBP was done for four consecutive days with three measurements three times daily followed by ABP (A&D TM-2430) on the next day. All patients received a questionnaire regarding acceptance of the equipment. Results: OBP was a significantly higher than daytime ABP (systolic/diastolic, 3.3/3.8 mmHg). HBP was significantly lower than daytime ABP (systolic/diastolic, -4.6/-1.6 mmHg). The strongest correlations were seen between all HBP readings day 2-4 and daytime ABP (systolic, r=0.69, p<0.001; diastolic, r=0.61, p<0.001). There were no significant differences between the different HBP schedules, i.e. 3 measurements twice daily for 3 days and 3 measurements three times daily for 4 days. Patients were content with and accepted the HBP measuring device. Conclusion: The telemedical HBP was lower than daytime ABP. The observed difference could possible be due to less pain and more relaxation during HBP measurements or a systematic difference in the algoritms between the blood pressure measuring devices. HBP measurement during three days was as good as measurement during 4 days.. The equipment was well accepted among patients.