How many blood pressure measurements should we take in the office?

Abstract Background: No consensus has emerged among different guidelines concerning how many blood pressure (BP) measurements should be performed at office visits in the diagnosis of hypertension (HT). The purpose of this study was to examine the compatibility of various multiple average office BP measurements and 24-h BP monitoring (ABPM) in patients follow-up in the Cappadocia HT cohort. Methods: 1158 office BP measurements by 207 patients were examined. Five BP measurements were taken at each office visit. The results were then classified as G1 (average of the 1 st and 2 nd BP measurements), G2 (average of the 2 nd and 3 rd ), G3 (average of the 2 nd , 3 rd , and 4 th ), G4 (average of the 2nd, 3rd, 4 th , and 5 th ), and G5 (average of five measurements). Compatibility between the average values in the groups and concomitant 24-h ABPM data was examined. Results: While a significant difference was observed between daytime 24-h ABPM SBP and G1 (p=0.002), no difference was found the other groups. Office DBP approached the daytime 24-h ABPM values as the number of measurements in the five groups increased, although average office DBP data in all groups were higher than daytime 24-h ABPM DBP (p 0.000 for all). Conclusion: In the light of our study results, we recommend that three office BP measurements be performed and that the average of the 2 nd and 3 rd measurements be used for SBP, while in terms of DBP, we recommend that as many measurements as possible be taken without the 1 st value being included in the average.