| The appropriate sized cuff should be applied to the nondominant arm unless the SBP difference between arms is >10 mm Hg, in which case the arm with the highest value obtained should be used.
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| The device should be set to record for a duration of at least 24 hours with the measurement frequency set at 20 – 30 minute intervals during the day and 30-60 minutes at night.
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| A patient-reported diary to define daytime (awake), night-time (sleep), activities, symptoms and medication administration is useful for study interpretation.
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| Daytime and night-time should preferentially be defined using the patient’s diary. Alternatively, pre-defined thresholds can be used (e.g. 08:00 to 22:00 for daytime and 22:00 to 8:00 for night-time).
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| The ABPM report should include all of the individual BP readings (numerically and graphically), the percentage of successful readings, the averages for each time frame (daytime, night-time, 24 hours) and the “dipping” percentage (the percentage the average BP changed from daytime to night-time).
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| Criteria for a successful ABPM study are:
- At least 70% of the readings are successful AND
- At least 20 daytime readings and 7 night-time readings are successful
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