Home monitoring of hypertension to be recommended by NICE

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has called for blood pressure (BP) to be monitored on a 24-hour basis for individuals suffering from hypertension in the UK.

It is recommending the use of ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) in cases where patients have clinic BP of 140/90 mmHg or higher as a more accurate and cost-effective way take readings.

Bryan Williams, professor of medicine at the University of Leicester and chair of the Guideline Development Group, said: "BP is highly variable so we never use a single reading. Patients are asked to come in and see their GP on at least two further occasions."

However, he added that with AMBP, BP is monitored throughout the day and then an average value is taken.

The new stance has been welcomed by the British Heart Foundation, which noted that this new approach will also help to avoid what is known as "white coat hypertension".

This involves patients experiencing unnaturally elevated blood pressure due to the stress of testing, giving a false impression of their heart health.