What is 24-hour Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitoring?

Twenty-four-hour Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitoring is a method of measuring and managing high-blood pressure with precision.

High blood pressure or hypertension is a condition where your systolic or upper blood pressure reads 130 or above, and your diastolic (lower blood pressure) reads 80 or above. The ambulatory method lets you record your blood pressure readings over a 24-hour period, spanning over your sleep and wakeful states.

Ambulatory blood pressure monitoring is much more precise and definitive than a sphygmomanometer reading. Additionally, ambulatory monitoring also takes note of changes in BP and heart rate, calculating the BP distribution pattern and other statistics.

Why is 24-Hour Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitoring Needed?

Ambulatory BP monitoring yields much more rigorous information about your blood pressure than a routine check-up. It shows how the changes in your BP may correlate with your day-to-day activities and sleep patterns. Patients with post-traumatic stress disorder may show irregular BP during panic attacks and stress disorder. But these kinds of patients may evade all such diagnoses during a routine check-up.

As a more sophisticated method of measurement, it is a highly convenient way to detect different kinds of hypertension, such as white coat hypertension, masked hypertension, and sustained hypertension.

Other Uses of 24-hour Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitoring

• To determine the efficacy of certain antihypertensive drugs.
• To predict different cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases caused by hypertension.
• To monitor pregnant women suffering from hypertension.
• To diagnose people with borderline hypertension.
• To find the right dosage and combination of medicines for certain patients.

The Benefits of Ambulatory Blood Pressure

• It is instrumental in diagnosing masked hypertension and sustained hypertension.
• It helps you rule out the misdiagnosis of hypertension, otherwise known as white-coat hypertension.
• The procedure assists the physicians in prescribing the right medications for high BP.
• The test also aids physicians in predicting the possible incidence of stroke, heart disease or organ damage due to hypertension.
• Ambulatory monitoring may also help evaluate the patient’s response to prolonged antihypertensive medications.

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