Health Story

04 July 2009 13:55 BST

Blood pressure readings 'fail to predict heart risks'

Blood pressure readings taken in a doctor's office do not always predict future heart risks, research claims.

In a report published in the Archives of Internal Medicine today, researchers claim that continuously measuring blood pressure should be used to help predict future heart disease and related deaths among those with treatment-resistant hypertension.

The authors of the report looked at over 500 patients with resistant hypertension and found that blood pressure measured in medical offices did not predict any future health complications.

It was also discovered that recording blood pressure in the evenings was superior to daytime recording when predicting heart events.

If night-time systolic blood pressure increased by 22 millimeters of mercury, risk for future heart events increased by 38 per cent, whereas an increase of 14 millimeters of mercury in diastolic blood pressure increased heart risks by 36 per cent, the report states.

"This study has important clinical implications. First, it reinforces the importance of ambulatory blood pressure monitoring performance in resistant hypertensive patients," the authors write.

"Furthermore, ambulatory blood pressure monitoring should be performed during the whole 24 hours, with separate analyses of the daytime and night-time periods, because it seems that night-time blood pressures are better cardiovascular risk factors than are daytime blood pressures."

"Second, it raises the question of whether therapeutic interventions directed specifically at controlling night-time hypertension will be able to improve cardiovascular prognosis compared with the traditional approach of controlling daytime blood pressure levels."