Cor Vasa 2014, 56(2):e158-e163 | DOI: 10.1016/j.crvasa.2014.02.011

Availability and use of home blood pressure measurement in the Czech general population

Jitka Seidlerová^a,*, Jan Filipovský^a, Peter Wohlfahrt^b,c, Otto Mayer jr.^a, Renata Cífková^b,c

^a II. interní klinika a Biomedicínské centrum (UniMeC), Lékařská fakulta Plzeň, Univerzita Karlova v Praze a Fakultní nemocnice Plzeň, Plzeň, Česká republika

^b Centrum pro kardiovaskulární prevenci, 1. lékařská fakulta Univerzity Karlovy a Thomayerova nemocnice, Praha, Česká republika

^c Pracoviště preventivní kardiologie, Institut klinické a experimentální medicíny, Praha, Česká republika

Background: Home blood pressure monitoring (HBPM) is recommended for hypertensive patients as a tool to improve both blood pressure (BP) control and compliance with treatment.

Methods: We therefore evaluated the use of HBPM in hypertensive subjects examined during a cross-sectional general population survey (Czech post-MONICA). Models predicting the availability and use of HBPM were constructed using univariate and multivariate logistic regression.

Results: Out of 449 treated hypertensive patients (mean age 63.2 years, 52.1% women), 250 (55.7%) subjects reported they had a device for HBPM available at home. Factors associated with HBPM availability were older age, university education, marital status, longer duration of hypertension and nonsmoking. Out of the 250 subjects with HBPM available, 40% of patients used HBPM regularly (at least once a week) and this ratio increased with the number of antihypertensive drugs taken (monotherapy 30%, dual combination 43%, combination of ≥3 drugs 48%; ptrend = 0.028). BP control was similar in those using HBPM regularly compared with those who used HBPM irregularly or did not use it at all (54.5 vs. 49.7%; p = 0.52).

Conclusion: HBPM is available to more than a half of treated hypertensive patients from a general population. However, only minority of the patients performs home blood pressure measurement regularly.

Keywords: Antihypertensive treatment; Arterial hypertension; Epidemiology; Home blood pressure monitoring

Received: January 20, 2014; Accepted: February 25, 2014; Published: April 1, 2014  Show citation