title: Prevalence of orthostatic hypotension in the unselected ambulatory population of persons aged 65 years old and above.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The diagnostic recommendation for orthostatic hypotension (OH) is to measure blood pressure during the first 3 min after getting up from a lying position. There are no clear definitions as to the amount of time that the patient should lie down before this, and the number of measurements to be taken in lying and standing positions. The aim of this study was to identify the optimal time to measure blood pressure when lying and standing.
  
  
  METHODS
  This was a prospective study of 99 patients aged 65 years and above in an urban primary care clinic. Blood pressure was measured at 1 min intervals over 10 min in the lying position and 7 min standing.
  
  
  RESULTS
  OH was found in 37 patients (37.4%). Of these, 56.8% were identified in the 1st minute, 67.6% after 2 min and 83.8% after 3 min of standing. In all cases, participants with OH were asymptomatic. In the lying position, blood pressure stabilized after 7 min, but when the 7th minute was used as a reference for OH many cases were lost.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  To optimize the identification of OH, blood pressure should be measured at 1 min intervals over the first 3 min after standing up. The amount of time that patients should lie down before blood pressure is measured standing up still has to be determined.
authors.affiliation: Division of Community Health, Department of Family Medicine, Siaal Research Center for Family Practice and Primary Care, Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev , Beer-Sheva , Israel.
authors.forename: Gina
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Cohen
authors.forename: Svetlana
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zalomonson
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Press
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001794:Blood Pressure; D001795:Blood Pressure Determination; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007024:Hypotension, Orthostatic / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D008297:Male; D011187:Posture; D015995:Prevalence; D011320:Primary Health Care; D011446:Prospective Studies
keywords: 65 years and above; orthostatic hypotension; primary care