Comparative accuracies of automated and manual office blood pressure measurements in a Chinese population

Abstract

Background: Lack of decrease (≤ 10%) in systolic blood pressure during sleep, referred to as non-dipping, independently predicts cardiovascular events and mortality. There has been no prospective and adequately powered randomizedcontrolled trial to determine whether exercise, when compared to standard treatment, can normalize non-dipping (ND) in patients with hypertension. Further, most patients do not sustain an exercise program by 12 months.Method: A two-arm, assessor-blinded randomized controlled trial, involving 198 hypertensive Chinese patients who have non-dipping will be conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of a combined exercise (aerobic exercise and resistance training) program to normalize non-dipping (ND). The combined exercise program, "exercise is medicine" (EIM), was developed to maintain exercise habit using a variety of techniques (e.g. 12-week exercise classes, mobile application, wrist trackers, selfscheduling, monitoring, regular feedback and motivational interviewing). Eligible patients will be randomized to EIM plus usual care or to usual care in 1:1 ratio by stratified randomization according to age and sex. The randomization sequence is blinded to the investigators and allocation is disclosed only after valid consent.

Update on Hypertension Research in 2021

“…The most comprehensive meta-analysis [ 77 ] reported that AOBP is equivalent to home BP (HBP), but the diagnostic value and viability of AOBP are still controversial. Lee et al [ 78 ] assessed the diagnostic accuracies of two AOBP machines and manual office blood pressure measurements (MOBP) in Chinese individuals and clarified the lower diagnostic significance of AOBP than that of MOBP. Recent studies strongly recommended the wide use of self-measured HBP [ 79 ] because HBP has better reproducibility than office BP (OBP), improves adherence to treatment, enables us to detect high-risk populations and has prognostic value for cardiovascular disease (CVD) events [ 80 – 82 ].…”