Ambulatory and home blood pressure monitoring: gaps between clinical guidelines and clinical practice in Singapore

International Journal of General Medicine Dovepress open access to scientific and medical research ORIGINAL RESEARCH International Journal of General Medicine downloaded from https://www.dovepress.com/ by 54.37.163.172 on 12-Jul-2018 For personal use only. Open Access Full Text Article Ambulatory and home blood pressure monitoring: gaps between clinical guidelines and clinical practice in Singapore This article was published in the following Dove Press journal: International Journal of General Medicine 3 July 2017 Number of times this article has been viewed Sajita Setia 1 Kannan Subramaniam 2 Boon Wee Teo 3 Jam Chin Tay 4 1 Chief Medical Office, Medical Affairs, Pfizer Pte Ltd, Singapore; 2Global Medical Affairs, Asia Pacific Region, Pfizer Australia, West Ryde, New South Wales, Australia; 3Department of Medicine, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore; 4Department of General Medicine, Tan Tock Seng Hospital, Singapore Purpose: Out-of-office blood pressure (BP) measurements (home blood pressure monitoring [HBPM] and ambulatory blood pressure monitoring [ABPM]) provide important additional information for effective hypertension detection and management decisions. Therefore, outof-office BP measurement is now recommended by several international guidelines. This study evaluated the practice and uptake of HBPM and ABPM among physicians from Singapore. Materials and methods: A sample of physicians from Singapore was surveyed between 8 September and 5 October 2016. Those included were in public or private practice had been practicing for ≥3 years, directly cared for patients ≥70% of the time, and treated ≥30 patients for hypertension per month. The questionnaire covered six main categories: general BP management, BP variability (BPV) awareness/diagnosis, HBPM, ABPM, BPV management, and associated training needs. Results: Sixty physicians (30 general practitioners, 20 cardiologists, and 10 nephrologists) were included (77% male, 85% aged 31–60 years, and mean 22-year practice). Physicians recommended HBPM and ABPM to 81% and 27% of hypertensive patients, respectively. HBPM was most often used to monitor antihypertensive therapy (88% of physicians) and 97% thought that ABPM was useful for providing information on BPV. HBPM instructions often differed from current guideline recommendations in terms of frequency, number of measurements, and timing. The proportion of consultation time devoted to discussing HBPM and BPV was one-quarter or less for 73% of physicians, and only 55% said that they had the ability to provide education on HBPM and BPV. Patient inertia, poor patient compliance, lack of medical consultation time, and poor patient access to a BP machine were the most common challenges for implementing out-of-office BP monitoring. Conclusion: Although physicians from Singapore do recommend out-of-office BP measurement to patients with hypertension, this survey identified several important gaps in knowledge and clinical practice. Keywords: hypertension, blood pressure monitoring, blood pressure variability, guidelines Introduction Correspondence: Sajita Setia Medical Affairs, Pfizer Pte Ltd, 80 Pasir Panjang Road, #16–81/82, Mapletree Business City, Singapore 117372, Singapore Tel +65 6403 8754 Fax +65 6722 4188 Email 189 submit your manuscript | www.dovepress.com International Journal of General Medicine 2017:10 189–197 Dovepress © 2017 Setia et al. This work is published and licensed by Dove Medical Press Limited. The full terms of this license are available at https://www.dovepress.com/terms. php and incorporate the Creative Commons Attribution – Non Commercial (unported, v3.0) License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/). By accessing the work you hereby accept the Terms. Non-commercial uses of the work are permitted without any further permission from Dove Medical Press Limited, provided the work is properly attributed. For permission for commercial use of this work, please see paragraphs 4.2 and 5 of our Terms (https://www.dovepress.com/terms.php). http://dx.doi.org/10.2147/IJGM.S138789 Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org) Clinic BP is the current gold standard for the screening, diagnosis, and treatment of hypertension.1 However, this provides only a single assessment under conditions that can influence the parameter being measured.2 Therefore, there is increasing recognition that out-of-office blood pressure (BP) measurements, such as home blood pressure monitoring (HBPM) and ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM), provide important additional information on which to base effective decisions about the detection and management of hypertension. As a result, out-of-office BP measurement is now recommended by several international guidelines, most of which advocate the Dovepress International Journal of General Medicine downloaded from https://www.dovepress.com/ by 54.37.163.172 on 12-Jul-2018 For personal use only. Setia et al complementary use of HBPM and ABPM.1,3,4 In clinical practice, out-of-office measurement tools are often used to distinguish patients who have elevated clinic BP but with normal readings during usual daily activities (“white-coat” hypertension) or those with normal clinic BP but with elevated readings outside the clinic (“masked” hypertension).5 In addition, there is increasing recognition of the role of blood pressure variability (BPV) in contributing to overall cardiovascular risk.6 This further highlights the importance of monitoring and managing BPV, something that cannot be achieved with clinic BP measurements alone. Guidelines from the UK,3 Japanese Society of Hypertension,4 and European Society of Hypertension/European Society of Cardiology1 all include ABPM- and HBPM-based definitions for diagnosing hypertension (Table 1). The European guidelines provide detailed guidance on the use of outof-office BP measurement for diagnostic purposes,1 while ABPM and HBPM are endorsed to the greatest extent in the Japanese Society of Hypertension (JSH) document.4 These guidelines advocate the use of HBPM for diagnosing hypertension in all patients, with ABPM used if necessary, allowing differentiation between patients with white-coat, masked, or persistent hypertension.4 Both the JSH and National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines suggest that out-of-office BP monitoring can be used to assess BPV and to determine 24-hour BP control (Table 1).3,4 In contrast, US guidelines from the Eighth Joint National Committee (JNC8) make little mention of home or ambulatory BP measurements.7 Singaporean Ministry of Health (MOH) clinical practice guidelines for hypertension were last produced in 2005.8 Although these did define a home BP cut-off for the diag- nosis of hypertension (average >135/85 mmHg), there was no explicit recommendation for HBPM, and ABPM was recommended only in specific clinical situations. In addition, the guidelines are now stated as withdrawn b (...truncated)