Value of ambulatory blood pressure recordings.

In the present paper, the value of ambulatory blood pressure recordings is discussed. Such recordings can be very helpful in the management of high and low blood pressure. The fact that more readings are obtained and that they are made in normal life conditions are the strongest arguments in favour of those recordings. Whether ambulatory recordings predict long term prognosis better than office blood pressure is still open for discussion; the long term European study OvA should help clarifying this important question. Data coming from these techniques are especially useful when conflicting elements are present such as high pressure with no organ damage or blood pressure resistant to all drugs and side effects occurring with even minor doses of antihypertensive drugs. Short term episodes of high or low pressure are best documented with ambulatory blood pressure recordings and this holds particularly true in patients with arterial hypotension. Finally several research aspects can be approached by ambulatory recordings of pressure such as the study of pharmacokinetics of drugs and analysis of blood pressure variability.