The 5 Ws of Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitoring

Abstract

Blood pressure (BP) measurement is affected by multiple variables which influence clinical management decisions and patient outcomes. Around 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) avoids incorrect diagnosis of hypertension (HT), and unnecessary treatment and provides the best prediction of cardiovascular (CV) risk. Clinically important phenotypes of HT such as masked HT (masked HT), white coat HT (white coat HT), and nocturnal HT (nocturnal HT) may be missed by not incorporating ambulatory BP monitoring in practice. However, lack of device availability, operational difficulties, and cost remain barriers to its widespread acceptance in India. In this review, we discuss the when, what, who, why, and where (5Ws) relevant to ABPM measurement.