title: Defining normal ambulatory blood pressure.
abstract: Providing normal reference values and the means to interpret such values in practice is an urgent issue requiring consensus. Five basic approaches to defining normalcy for 24 h blood pressures (BP) are considered: 1) the relationship of ambulatory blood pressure (ABP) to morbidity and mortality, 2) the relationship of ABP to end-organ involvement, 3) ABP levels in normal populations, 4) the relationship of ABP to clinic BP, and 5) the relationship of 24 h indices to risk. Although there now is considerable evidence demonstrating that ambulatory measurement correlates more strongly with end-organ damage, the first two approaches are scientifically the best. It will be some time before levels of normalcy can be derived. There is a large volume of data on population samples permitting derivation of normalcy for clinical practice. Rounded upper limits of normal can be calculated as 140/90 mm Hg for 24 h ambulatory pressure, 150/90 mm Hg for daytime pressure, and 130/80 mm Hg for nighttime pressure. There are, however, considerable differences for age and gender which need to be taken into consideration.
authors.affiliation: Blood Pressure Unit, Beaumont Hospital, Dublin, Ireland.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: O'Brien
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Atkins
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: O'Malley
mesh_terms: D000553:Ambulatory Care; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D012016:Reference Values