Comparison of home blood pressure and office blood pressure measurement in dogs and cats.

The objectives of this study were to retrospectively compare blood pressure measurements obtained in clinic with those obtained at home from cats and dogs seen at our hospital and to investigate the potential for white-coat effect (WCE) and white-coat hypertension (WCH) in this population of 10 cats and 7 dogs. Medical records from Western College of Veterinary Medicine were searched to identify patients with paired home and in-clinic blood pressure measurements taken within 14 d. The results were compared with matched-pair analysis to determine the agreement and bias. Significantly higher systolic and diastolic blood pressures were measured in the clinic compared with those from home measurements. A mean difference of +27.7 mmHg [95% confidence interval (CI): 17.1 to 38.3 mmHg, P < 0.001] and +12.9 mmHg (95% CI: 6.4 to 19.5 mmHg, P = 0.0007) was found for systolic and diastolic pressure, respectively. The prevalence of WCH in this population was 41%. A total of 39% of home blood pressure measurements by owners were free of artefacts as evaluated by waveforms on high-definition oscillometry (HDO) devices. The results of this study showed that blood pressure measurements taken at home and at a clinic varied significantly, which was attributed to a high prevalence of white-coat effect and white-coat hypertension in this clinical population.