Accuracy of self-monitored blood pressure for diagnosing XXXX in primary care.

@entity1 @entity101
OBJECTIVE: To assess the diagnostic accuracy of recommendations for self-monitoring blood pressure (BP) for diagnosing @entity101 in primary care. METHODS: Two hundred and forty-seven consecutive @entity1 with raised (>= 130mmHg systolic) BP measured by their general practitioner from four primary care practices in the United Kingdom underwent 28 days of self-monitoring followed by 24-h ambulatory BP monitoring (ABPM). Diagnostic accuracy of the first 7 days of self-monitored BP (minimum 4 days, discarding readings on day 1) in detecting @entity101 with ambulatory blood pressure was taken as reference. RESULTS: Two hundred and three @entity1 were included, 109 (53.7%) of whom were diagnosed with @entity101 using daytime ambulatory BP. The average of days 2-7 self-monitored BP correctly classified 150 of 203 @entity1 [sensitivity 93.6%, 95% confidence interval (CI) 87.2-97.4%; specificity 51.1%, 95% CI 40.5-61.5%). However, the average of days 2-5 self-monitoring correctly classified 152 of 203 @entity1 due to better specificity (53.2%, 95% CI 42.6-63.6%). In sensitivity analysis, diagnostic accuracy was not improved by inclusion of readings beyond day 5, and inclusion of readings taken on day 1 had no impact on diagnostic accuracy. Self-monitoring in the clinic was more accurate than readings taken by the general practitioner, but not self-monitoring outside of the clinic. CONCLUSION: @entity101 can be ruled out in the majority of @entity1 with elevated clinic BP using the average of the first 5 consecutive days of self-monitored BP, supporting lower limits for self-monitoring readings in current guidelines. Performing readings beyond day 5 and including readings taken on the first day had no clinical impact on diagnostic accuracy.
