Ambulatory blood pressure monitoring in the prediction and prevention of coronary heart disease.

We reviewed studies of ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) in patients with symptomatic coronary heart disease (CHD) or asymptomatic coronary lesions and in patients at high coronary risk, such as in the presence of hypertension. We identified ten cross-sectional and seven prospective studies in patients with CHD or coronary lesions. These studies showed that patients with CHD or coronary lesions often had nocturnal non-dipping or increased blood pressure variability, and might have increased risk of coronary events, due to either uncontrolled hypertension or treatment-induced hypotension identified by ABPM. We identified ten observational studies in hypertensive patients and normotensive subjects and five therapeutic trials in hypertension. These observational studies demonstrated that one or more ambulatory blood pressure components might provide predictive value for coronary events above and beyond clinic blood pressure. The therapeutic trials were less conclusive, but suggestive of additional value for the prevention of coronary events.