Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, May 21: The IMA National study on Ambulatory Blood Pressure Measurement (ABPM) amongst doctors conducted in partnership with HCFI and Eris Lifesciences revealed that 21% of the doctors had masked hypertension or isolated ambulatory hypertension.
This was revealed by Padma Shri Awardee Dr KK Aggarwal, National president, Indian Medical Association (IMA) and president of Heart Care Foundation of India (HCFI) and Dr RN Tandon, Honorary Secretary General of IMA.
They said in simple terms, their BP readings were normal when evaluated through the conventional clinic measurement technique but high through the ABPM technique. Masked hypertension is associated with an increased long-term risk of sustained hypertension and cardiovascular morbidity.
In addition to this, 56% of the doctors evaluated suffered from irregular BP pattern at night making them prone to future adverse cardiac events. 37% doctors had nocturnal hypertension, which can never be diagnosed through in clinic BP measurement. Over 50% physicians had uncontrolled hypertension despite taking hypertensive medicines.
“Evaluating both daytime and nighttime blood pressure is crucial for predicting all cardiovascular events. It is a fact that a blood pressure reading obtained during one’s sleep is more accurate in helping predict all causes of mortality when compared to those obtained during waking hours”, they said, adding, ABPM is globally accepted as the gold-standard method towards detecting hypertension.
“Often hypertension is misdiagnosed given the difference in blood pressure readings at home and in a clinic. Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitoring (ABPM) can help in getting a more accurate picture of a person’s BP pattern in a span of 24 hour”, they further added.
About 20,000 readings were taken of 533 doctors including those of the IMA leadership spanning 33 Indian cities during the study aimed at raising awareness about the benefits of ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) in the timely and correct diagnosis of hypertension on the occasion of the World Hypertension Day.
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