Usefulness of 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure monitoring in the cardiology outpatients of Clinica Internacional during the year 2019

Abstract

Introduction: Hypertension or High Blood Pressure (HBP) is a highly prevalent condition in Peru; there are about 5.5 million people over the age of 15 who suffer from this disease. Due to this, it is considered a prevalent disease and at the same time a cardiovascular risk factor related to the appearance of ischemic heart disease, cerebrovascular disease and renal failure, etc. Thus generating an increase in morbidity and mortality in the population, and even greater in the one that suffers it. Objective: Describing the utility of 24-hour Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitoring (ABPM) in daily cardiology practice and in the diagnosis and follow-up of patients with or suspected high blood pressure. Materials and methods: Descriptive, observational, retrospective study, in which the 24-hour ABPM of 1,675 patients from the cardiology outpatient clinic of Clínica Internacional-San Borja in Lima-Perú during 2019 we reanalyzed. Results: 1,675 records were included. The median age was 56 years. 49.13% (823) were women and 50.87% (852) were men. A de novo diagnosis was made in 293 (40.7%) patients. 382 (40.2%) patients with uncontrolled HBP were found and 1,040 (62.1%) were found with abnormal circadian patterns, with increased cardiovascular risk. Only 37.9% of the studies were normal in all parameters. Conclusions: The 24-hour ABPM proved to be a useful tool to identify newly diagnosed hypertensive patients and uncontrolled hypertensive patients by detecting nocturnal hypertension and abnormal circadian patterns; which are risk markers for cardiovascular morbidity and mortality.