title: Prevalence of home blood pressure measurement among selected hypertensive patients: results of a multicenter survey from six hospital outpatient hypertension clinics in Italy.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of home blood pressure (BP) measurement, the type of devices and accuracy in a large sample of hypertensive patients referred to hospital outpatient hypertension clinics.
  
  
  METHODS
  Eight hundred and fifty-five consecutive treated hypertensive patients who attended six specialized centers during a period of 4 months were included. They underwent the following procedures: (i) detailed medical interview by a structured questionnaire; (ii) physical examination; (iii) standard 12-lead electrocardiogram; (iv) BP measurements taken by a validated mercury sphygmomanometer and patient's devices.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 640 (74.7%) of 855 patients were regularly performing home BP measurement. These patients were on average younger than those not practising it (58 vs 60 years, p<0.01); men were more numerous than women (58 vs 44%, p=0.03) and had higher educational level. Electronic arm-cuff instruments were the most frequently used devices (58%) followed by wrist devices (19%) and mercury or aneroid sphygmomanometers (23%). Significant correlations were found between BPs measured by validated mercury sphygmomanometers and patients' devices [r=0.85, p<0.0001 for systolic BP (SBP) and r=0.78, p<0.0001 for diastolic BP (DBP)]. Differences 5 mmHg in SBP or DBP were found in 50 and 60% of patients, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our findings indicate that: (i) home BP measurement is performed by a majority of treated hypertensives seen in specialized centers; (ii) male gender, age and educational level seem to influence the adoption of home BP monitoring; (iii) electronic arm-cuff devices are the most used instruments; (iv) a notable fraction of patient's devices do not meet the accuracy criteria recommended by US Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation.
authors.affiliation: Istituto di Medicina Cardiovascolare and Centro Interuniversitario di Fisiologia Clinica e Ipertensione, Università di Milano e Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico IRCCS, Milano. dhipertensione@libero.it
authors.forename: Cesare
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cuspidi
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Meani
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lonati
authors.forename: Veronica
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Fusi
authors.forename: Gaia
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Magnaghi
authors.forename: Guido
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Garavelli
authors.forename: Gaetana
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Palumbo
authors.forename: Claudio
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pini
authors.forename: Alvaro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vaccarella
authors.forename: Gianfranco
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Parati
authors.forename: Gastone
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Leonetti
authors.forename: Alberto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zanchetti
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001795:Blood Pressure Determination / Q000295:instrumentation*; D018660:Blood Pressure Monitoring, Ambulatory / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004562:Electrocardiography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000175:diagnosis*; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015337:Multicenter Studies as Topic; D010044:Outpatient Clinics, Hospital / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010808:Physical Examination; D015995:Prevalence; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires