Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitoring

Ambulatory blood pressure monitoring allows blood pressure to be continually monitored during sleep, and is useful to determine whether the patient is a dipper or non-dipper, that is to say whether or not blood pressure falls at night compared to daytime values. A night time fall is normal. Absence of a night time dip is associated with poorer health outcomes. In addition, nocturnal hypertension is associated with end organ damage such as left ventricular hypertrophy and narrowing of the retinal arteries. ABPM is a much better indicator than the daytime blood pressure reading, the reason being clinical BP measurement are referred to the marked variability of BP measurement and white coat effect.