The following is a summary of “Diagnostic Accuracy of Office Blood Pressure Measurement and Home Blood Pressure Monitoring for Hypertension Screening Among Adults: Results From the IDH Study,” published in the December 2023 issue of Cardiology by Mizuno et al.
The aim of this study was to assess the accuracy of high blood pressure (BP) measurements taken in an office setting and at home in comparison to ambulatory BP monitoring (ABPM), using high awake BP (≥130/80 mm Hg) as the reference point. Among 379 participants with complete office BP and ABPM data in the IDH (Improving the Detection of Hypertension) study, the study evaluated the precision of office BP measurements obtained using the oscillometric method in detecting high BP on ABPM. Additionally, among a subgroup of 122 participants with initially high office BP (≥130/80 mm Hg) and complete home BP monitoring data, the accuracy of high confirmatory office BP and high home BP for detecting high BP on ABPM was separately investigated.
The findings revealed that high office BP demonstrated moderate sensitivity (0.61 [95% CI, 0.53–0.68]) and high specificity (0.85 [95% CI, 0.80–0.90]) for identifying high awake BP. However, both high confirmatory office BP and high home BP showed moderate sensitivity (0.69 [95% CI, 0.59–0.79] and 0.79 [95% CI, 0.71–0.87], respectively) but had lower and moderate specificity (0.44 [95% CI, 0.27–0.61] and 0.72 [95% CI, 0.56–0.88], respectively) in identifying individuals with high BP on ABPM.
In conclusion, the study highlighted that a significant number of individuals exhibiting high BP during ABPM did not manifest high BP readings in an office setting. Moreover, confirmatory office BP and home BP monitoring displayed limitations in accurately identifying individuals with high BP detected through ABPM.