Home blood pressure measurement in women with pregnancy-related hypertensive disorders

Objectives To determine if home blood pressure measurement (HBPM) provides comparable results to clinic blood pressure (BP) measurement. Study design A prospective, single-centre study of 37 pregnant and early post-partum women with a hypertensive pregnancy or at high-risk of developing a hypertensive pregnancy were asked to perform HBPM for a minimum period of one week. This was subsequently compared to clinic BP measurement both before and after the period of home measurement. Main outcome measures The accuracy of HBPM compared to clinic measurement, and the acceptability by patients for HBPM. Results The HBPM was comparable to clinic measurements [for the systolic blood pressure (SBP), the mean home reading was 123.4 mmHg (122.0–124.9 mmHg) versus 123.9 mmHg (121.3–126.5 mmHg) for the clinic reading (p = 0.69); for the diastolic blood pressure (DBP) the mean home reading was 81.6 mmHg (80.4–82.8 mmHg) versus 84.4 mmHg (82.6–86.2 mmHg) for the clinic (p < 0.01)]. There were no reported issues associated with the use of HBPM, but it did lead to 5 women contacting health care professionals for management of their BP between clinic visits. Conclusions HBPM provides comparable results to the clinic BP measurement. It is also an acceptable technique for pregnant and early post-partum women. However, it should be used as an adjunct to clinic measurement, and cannot at this present stage replace clinic visits or clinic BP measurement