Utilidad de la monitorización ambulatoria de la presión arterial en la toma de decisiones clínicas

[Descriptive study of ambulatory blood pressure monitoring in the Primary Care Nursing clinic]

OBJECTIVE

To analyze the clinical characteristics and the circadian patterns of patients who received ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) by a Primary Care Team.

METHOD

A descriptive, observational, cross-sectional study at community level. People older than 18 years on ABPM (2007-2011).

VARIABLES

demographic, cardiovascular disease, diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular risk factors, any type of arterial hypertension and circadian pattern. Intruments of measurement: 2 validated instruments with comparable results were used.

PROCEDURE

The instruments for ABPM were placed during the nursing visit. The instruments were then removed after 24h, and the data was retrieved and recorded in the computerized clinical history.

RESULTS

A total of 326 people were studied, with a mean age of 60.53±12.96 years, of whom 56.7% were male. According to ABPM the patient results showed that: 38.5% had «white coat» arterial hypertension, 36.2% were classified as poorly controlled arterial hypertension, 17.2% had masked hypertension, and 8% with isolated hypertension. Dipper circadian patterns were present in 39.6% of patients and non- dipper in 60.4%.

CONCLUSIONS

ABPM allows to Primary Health Care professionals to check the actual situation of the blood pressure over 24h and analyze the circadian pattern. In clinical practice this involves having a comprehensive care strategy on life style, as well as adherence to treatment.

Placental Pathology and Blood Pressure's Level in Women with Hypertensive Disorders in Pregnancy

Objective. The aim of this study was to investigate the extent of placental lesions associated with blood pressure (BP) levels in pregnancies complicated by hypertension. Methods. 55 singleton pregnancies complicated by mild hypertension were recruited and compared to 55 pregnancies complicated by severe hypertension. The histological assessment was carried out with regard to the following aspects: vessels number/field of vision, infarction, villous fibrinoid necrosis, villous hypermaturity, avascular villi, calcifications, lymphohistiocytic villitis, and thickened vessels. Statistical analysis was performed by SPSS. Results. All placental lesions were observed more often in the severe hypertension group. Vessels number was significantly decreased, and infarction and villous fibrinoid necrosis were significantly increased in the placentas of the severe hypertension group compared to the mild hypertension group (P < 0.001). Conclusion. This study supports that the extent of placental lesions in hypertensive pregnancies is correlated with hypertension level and so highlights blood pressure level as a mirror of placental function.

Agreement between community pharmacy, physician's office, and home blood pressure measurement methods: the PALMERA Study

BACKGROUND

The usefulness of the community pharmacy blood pressure (BP) (CPBP) method in assessing the effectiveness of antihypertensive treatment has not been adequately studied. The aim of this study was to assess the agreement between community pharmacy, home, and physician office BP (POBP) measurement methods in treated hypertensive patients.

METHODS

BP was measured at the pharmacy (three visits), at home (4 days) and at the physician office (three visits). The Lin correlation-concordance coefficient (CCC) was used to evaluate the quantitative agreement. The qualitative agreement between methods to establish the patient's hypertensive state was evaluated using the κ-coefficient. Using home BP (HBP) monitoring as the reference method, the sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative likelihood ratios of the CPBP and POBP measurement methods were calculated.

RESULTS

The study included 70 patients. Agreements were acceptable-moderate between CPBP and HBP (CCC (systolic BP (SBP)/diastolic BP (DBP)) = 0.79/0.66; κ = 0.56), moderate between CPBP and POBP (CCC = 0.57/0.61; κ = 0.35), and moderate-poor (CCC = 0.56/0.49; κ = 0.28) between POBP and HBP. The sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative likelihood ratio for the CPBP and the POBP measurement methods were: 60.7%, 92.9%, 8.5, 0.4 and 75.0%, 54.8%, 1.7, 0.5, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

In this sample of treated hypertensive patients, the agreement between the community pharmacy and HBP measurement methods was acceptable-moderate and greater than other agreements. The CPBP measurement method was more reliable than the POBP measurement method for detecting the presence of both uncontrolled and controlled BP and could be a good alternative to HBP monitoring when the latter lacks suitability.