Abstract

There is a large amount of information in the literature to state that blood pressure control using ambulatory blood pressure measurement has a better predictive value for future cardiovascular events and target organ damage than casual blood pressure measurements. Clinical studies are currently evaluating if this approach is cost-effective. At the present time, and in the usual clinical practice, the use of ambulatory blood pressure monitoring is recommended for patients with resistant or difficult-to-control hypertension, for hypertensive patients with previous cardiovascular events or significant target organ damage, for the diagnosis of white coat hypertension, when there are symptoms suggesting hypotension or there is large variability in casual blood pressure measurements.