Ambulatory BP Monitoring Appears to Be Cost-Effective for Diagnosing Hypertension

In some studies, ambulatory blood pressure (ABP) correlates more strongly with adverse cardiovascular outcomes than does either office-based BP (OBP) or home-based BP (HBP). Hypertension usually is diagnosed with OBP monitoring, with ABP monitoring used mainly to resolve diagnostic uncertainty or to confirm antihypertensive treatment effectiveness. ABP monitoring could serve as a diagnostic standard for hypertension that requires treatment, but would it be cost-effective?

British researchers modeled a hypothetical population (age, ≥40) with screening BP measurements >140/90 mm Hg, risk profile equivalent to the general population, and diagnoses of hypertension by OBP, HBP, or ABP monitoring. The researchers used evidence-based assumptions fo…