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Comparison of agreement between different measures of blood pressure in primary care and daytime ambulatory blood pressure

Comparison of agreement between different measures of blood pressure in primary care and daytime ambulatory blood pressure
Comparison of agreement between different measures of blood pressure in primary care and daytime ambulatory blood pressure
Objective: to assess alternatives to measuring ambulatory pressure, which best predicts response to treatment and adverse outcome.

Setting: three general practices in England.

Design: validation study.

Participants: patients with newly diagnosed high or borderline high blood pressure; patients receiving treatment for hypertension but with poor control.

Main outcome measures: overall agreement with ambulatory pressure; prediction of high ambulatory pressure (>135/85 mm Hg) and treatment thresholds.

Results: readings made by doctors were much higher than ambulatory systolic pressure (difference 18.9 mm Hg, 95% confidence interval 16.1 to 21.7), as were recent readings made in the clinic outside research settings (19.9 mm Hg,17.6 to 22.1). This applied equally to treated patients with poor control (doctor v ambulatory 21.4 mm Hg, 17.3 to 25.4). Doctors' and recent clinic readings ranked systolic pressure poorly compared with ambulatory pressure and other measurements (doctor r=0.46; clinic 0.47; repeated readings by nurse 0.60; repeated self measurement 0.73; home readings 0.75) and were not specific at predicting high blood pressure (doctor 26%; recent clinic 15%; nurse 72%; patient in surgery 81%; home 60%), with poor likelihood ratios for a positive test (doctor 1.2; clinic 1.1; nurse 2.1, patient in surgery 4.7; home 2.2). Nor were doctor or recent clinic measures specific in predicting treatment thresholds.

Conclusion: the "white coat" effect is important in diagnosing and assessing control of hypertension in primary care and is not a research artefact. If ambulatory or home measurements are not available, repeated measurements by the nurse or patient should result in considerably less unnecessary monitoring, initiation, or changing of treatment. It is time to stop using high blood pressure readings documented by general practitioners to make treatment decisions.
0959-8138
254-257
Little, Paul
1bf2d1f7-200c-47a5-ab16-fe5a8756a777
Barnett, Jane
f10c0f99-e2f8-42e6-b52a-4987568453db
Barnsley, Lucy
dc9b0b39-02f6-4355-bea6-beddcdaa2e9b
Marjoram, Jean
d2ea7411-8df2-4584-a50c-e3993bf45444
Fitzgerald-Barron, Alex
9d81450d-a881-4f9c-b5f4-a0aab9b79407
Mant, David
d2e30212-70ec-48c9-b80a-a45cf4bcc46e
Little, Paul
1bf2d1f7-200c-47a5-ab16-fe5a8756a777
Barnett, Jane
f10c0f99-e2f8-42e6-b52a-4987568453db
Barnsley, Lucy
dc9b0b39-02f6-4355-bea6-beddcdaa2e9b
Marjoram, Jean
d2ea7411-8df2-4584-a50c-e3993bf45444
Fitzgerald-Barron, Alex
9d81450d-a881-4f9c-b5f4-a0aab9b79407
Mant, David
d2e30212-70ec-48c9-b80a-a45cf4bcc46e

Little, Paul, Barnett, Jane, Barnsley, Lucy, Marjoram, Jean, Fitzgerald-Barron, Alex and Mant, David (2002) Comparison of agreement between different measures of blood pressure in primary care and daytime ambulatory blood pressure. BMJ, 325 (7358), 254-257. (doi:10.1136/bmj.325.7358.254).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Objective: to assess alternatives to measuring ambulatory pressure, which best predicts response to treatment and adverse outcome.

Setting: three general practices in England.

Design: validation study.

Participants: patients with newly diagnosed high or borderline high blood pressure; patients receiving treatment for hypertension but with poor control.

Main outcome measures: overall agreement with ambulatory pressure; prediction of high ambulatory pressure (>135/85 mm Hg) and treatment thresholds.

Results: readings made by doctors were much higher than ambulatory systolic pressure (difference 18.9 mm Hg, 95% confidence interval 16.1 to 21.7), as were recent readings made in the clinic outside research settings (19.9 mm Hg,17.6 to 22.1). This applied equally to treated patients with poor control (doctor v ambulatory 21.4 mm Hg, 17.3 to 25.4). Doctors' and recent clinic readings ranked systolic pressure poorly compared with ambulatory pressure and other measurements (doctor r=0.46; clinic 0.47; repeated readings by nurse 0.60; repeated self measurement 0.73; home readings 0.75) and were not specific at predicting high blood pressure (doctor 26%; recent clinic 15%; nurse 72%; patient in surgery 81%; home 60%), with poor likelihood ratios for a positive test (doctor 1.2; clinic 1.1; nurse 2.1, patient in surgery 4.7; home 2.2). Nor were doctor or recent clinic measures specific in predicting treatment thresholds.

Conclusion: the "white coat" effect is important in diagnosing and assessing control of hypertension in primary care and is not a research artefact. If ambulatory or home measurements are not available, repeated measurements by the nurse or patient should result in considerably less unnecessary monitoring, initiation, or changing of treatment. It is time to stop using high blood pressure readings documented by general practitioners to make treatment decisions.

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More information

Published date: 3 August 2002

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 24399
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/24399
ISSN: 0959-8138
PURE UUID: 0dfe5400-5ece-4872-b27e-b151b0653d3d
ORCID for Paul Little: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-3664-1873

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Date deposited: 31 Mar 2006
Last modified: 11 Jul 2024 01:34

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Contributors

Author: Paul Little ORCID iD
Author: Jane Barnett
Author: Lucy Barnsley
Author: Jean Marjoram
Author: Alex Fitzgerald-Barron
Author: David Mant

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