Ambulatory blood pressure monitoring in evaluation of hypertensive patients receiving antihypertensive medications in a Nigerian tertiary hospital

Objectives: Hypertension is a major risk factor for cardiovascular morbidity and mortality; thus, proper monitoring of blood pressure (BP) control is essential to reduce the burden of cardiovascular diseases. Despite the advocacy for the use of 24-hour ambulatory BP monitors (ABPMs), their routine use in this environment is still suboptimal. This study, therefore, sets out to determine the proportion of hypertensive patients on therapy who have good BP control with both office BP value and 24-hour ABPM parameters. Material and Methods: This study was a cross-sectional study of 235 hypertensive subjects on continuous BP medications. They all had their office BP checks done and then had 24-hour ABPM to assess BP control. Results: The mean age of the study population was 53.61 ± 8.81 with a male-to-female ratio of 146:89. Only 96 patients (40.85%) and 13 (5.5%) of the study population had good BP control using office BP and ABPM values, respectively. The ABPM parameters of the 96 patients with good office BP control showed only 10 (10.4%) of them satisfied the ABPM parameters for good BP control. Conclusion: Poor BP control was common among hypertensive patients on anti-hypertensive medications. A large percentage of patients with good office BP control had uncontrolled BP when evaluated with a 24-hour ABPM. Therefore, routine use of ABPM is advocated to improve medication dosing and good BP control.