Ambulatory blood pressure may be more informative about health and mortality risk than blood pressure taken at a clinic, whether patients are being treated for hypertension or not. It has the potential to give BP data close to a patient’s real-life situation, helping to improve the diagnosis and better inform treatment options.¹⁵

A study of a decade’s worth of follow-up data from almost 60,000 patients in Spain found that readings obtained from a 24-hour ambulatory BP monitoring, especially night-time systolic values, were the most informative about risk of all-cause death and cardiovascular death.

Overall, ambulatory BP data was five to six times more informative than clinic readings, and nighttime ambulatory systolic BP was six times more informative than clinic systolic BP. Meanwhile, most of the association between BP measured in a clinic setting and risk of death was lost after the data was adjusted for 24-hour BP readings.

The study also showed a lack of association between ‘white coat’ hypertension and increased risk of death.