By Amy Orciari Herman
Ambulatory blood pressure monitoring is “essential” to diagnose masked hypertension in a substantial number of women in the year after severe preeclampsia, researchers conclude in Hypertension.
The researchers studied 200 women in the Netherlands who were referred for long-term cardiovascular follow-up after severe preeclampsia. All women had both 24-hour ambulatory BP monitoring and an office BP measurement at 9 to 15 months after delivery.
Ambulatory BP monitoring identified hypertension in 42% of participants, while office measurement did so in just 24%. Additionally, ambulatory monitoring found that 46% of the cohort did not have a night-time dip in systolic BP — or had a reverse dipping pattern — findings that carry risk similar to elevated BP.
The researchers write that ambulatory monitoring “should be offered to all these women at high risk of developing hypertension and possibly future cardiovascular disease.”
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