The recommended techniques to measure blood pressure for assessment of hypertension are seldom followed in the ambulatory care setting. This study has found that interns and first-year family practice residents have significant deficits in their knowledge and use of the recommended techniques to measure blood pressure. The results suggest that inadequacies exist in the teaching of blood pressure measuring techniques in our medical schools, the consequences of which are misdiagnosis and improper treatment of high blood pressure.

Patients using a diuretic with isosorbide dinitrate maintain an increased anginal threshold and total exercise time compared with placebo. Weight change is inversely related to exercise duration, and this result is consistent with fluid retention restoring cardiac preload during nitrate use. The increased anginal threshold during concurrent isosorbide dinitrate and diuretic use may be attributable to maintenance of the organic nitrate-induced reductions in cardiac preload.