Current realities of home blood pressure monitoring from physicians' perspectives: results from Asia HBPM survey 2020.

Uncontrolled hypertension is a significant problem in many parts of Asia. Effective management is essential to reduce the burden of hypertension. Home blood pressure monitoring (HBPM) is a promising tool that can aid in the diagnosis and management of hypertension. Experts from 11 countries/regions in Asia conceptualized a large-scale survey to examine the current realities of HBPM. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among health care professionals from China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam between November 2019 and June 2021. Physicians' responses were summarized using descriptive statistics. A total of 7945 physicians participated in the survey. Among all respondents, 50.3% and 33.5% viewed HBPM as highly recognized by physicians and patients in their country/region, respectively. Lack of understanding of HBPM and concern with the accuracy and reliability of HBPM devices were identified as key barriers to HBPM recognition. Nearly all physicians (95.9%) reported recommending HBPM to their patients; however, they reported less than 50% of their patients measured home blood pressure (HBP). Among physicians who recommended HBPM, only 22.4% and 54.1% cited HBP diagnostic threshold values and timing of taking antihypertensive drugs that were consistent with available guidelines, respectively. The survey reveals that the recognition of HBPM as a valuable tool to diagnose and manage hypertension is suboptimal in most parts of Asia. Despite high recommendation of HBPM to hypertensive patients by physicians, there are considerable discrepancies between guidelines recommendations and practice realities. The recognition of HBPM as a valuable tool for the diagnosis and management of hypertension is suboptimal among both physicians and patients in Asia. A clear and consistent guidance for proper HBPM practice and use of validated and calibrated HBP monitors are among the top priorities to support the integration of HBPM into daily patient care. HBPM: home blood pressure monitoring, HBP: home blood pressure.

Understanding short-term blood-pressure-variability phenotypes: from concept to clinical practice.

Clinic blood pressure (BP) is recognized as the gold standard for the screening, diagnosis, and management of hypertension. However, optimal diagnosis and successful management of hypertension cannot be achieved exclusively by a handful of conventionally acquired BP readings. It is critical to estimate the magnitude of BP variability by estimating and quantifying each individual patient's specific BP variations. Short-term BP variability or exaggerated circadian BP variations that occur within a day are associated with increased cardiovascular events, mortality and target-organ damage. Popular concepts of BP variability, including "white-coat hypertension" and "masked hypertension", are well recognized in clinical practice. However, nocturnal hypertension, morning surge, and morning hypertension are also important phenotypes of short-term BP variability that warrant attention, especially in the primary-care setting. In this review, we try to theorize and explain these phenotypes to ensure they are better understood and recognized in day-to-day clinical practice.