MHT is frequent in the elderly and is associated with a high vascular profile. These results should encourage a more widespread use of home BP monitoring in this age segment.

BackgroundThe relationship between blood pressure (BP) measured, its variability, and risk of cardiovascular events is well established; however, it is not well known whether there is a difference of variability between the four categories of BP status obtained by the comparison of office and home BP measurements: normotension and masked, white-coat, and sustained hypertension. Here, we assessed BP variability (BPV) according to BP status in the elderly.

In this population-based sample of elderly, rate of success of HBPM was high and maintained at 1-year after minimal training. Moreover, HBPM acceptance was excellent. These results suggest that HBPM is feasible and can be largely diffused to the elderly of general population. However, particular care must be given to very old, nonautonomous, and low educated individuals.

In this community-based study, elderly individuals with high office or home BP had an increased risk of hypertension 1 year later. This risk was higher among individuals not treated by antihypertensive and particularly in those with MHT. As these high-risk individuals would be otherwise undetected our results strongly support the large use of home blood pressure measurement in the elderly.