Diagnosing hypertension: Evidence supporting the 2015 recommendations of the Canadian Hypertension Education Program.

OBJECTIVE

To highlight the 2015 Canadian Hypertension Education Program (CHEP) recommendations for the diagnosis and assessment of hypertension.

QUALITY OF EVIDENCE

A systematic search was performed current to August 2014 by a Cochrane Collaboration librarian using the MEDLINE and PubMed databases. The search results were critically appraised by the CHEP subcommittee on blood pressure (BP) measurement and diagnosis, and evidence-based recommendations were presented to the CHEP Central Review Committee for independent review and grading. Finally, the findings and recommendations were presented to the Recommendations Task Force for discussion, debate, approval, and voting. The main recommendations are based on level II evidence.

MAIN MESSAGE

Based on the most recent evidence, CHEP has made 4 recommendations in 2 broad categories for 2015 to improve BP measurement and the way hypertension is diagnosed. A strong recommendation is made to use electronic BP measurement in the office setting to replace auscultatory BP measurement. For patients with elevated office readings, CHEP is recommending early use of out-of-office BP measurement, preferably ambulatory BP measurement, in order to identify early in the process those patients with white-coat hypertension.

CONCLUSION

Improvements in diagnostic accuracy are critical to optimizing hypertension management in Canada. The annual updates provided by CHEP ensure that practitioners have up-to-date evidence-based information to inform practice.