Office blood pressure values and the necessity of out-of-office measurements in high-risk pregnancies

Objectives: To determine if there is an office blood pressure (BP) value below which out-of-office measurements are unnecessary in high-risk pregnant women. Methods: We conducted a prospective cohort study in women in the second half of high-risk pregnancies. Office BP measurements and ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) was performed. The cohort was divided according to quartiles of office BP and in normotension, white-coat hypertension, masked hypertension and sustained hypertension. The risks for preeclampsia/eclampsia for each category were estimated. Results: Three hundred seventy-three women (30 ± 7 years with 32 ± 4 weeks of gestation) were included; 69 women (18.5%) developed preeclampsia/eclampsia. Risk for preeclampsia/eclampsia increased in a stepwise manner through quartiles of systolic office BP (8.8, 13.4, 19.6 and 32.3%, P 
Source: Journal of Hypertension - Category: Cardiology Tags: ORIGINAL PAPERS: BP measurements Source Type: research