Diagnosing Hypertension—Implications of the 2011 NICE Guidance

Abstract

The accurate diagnosis of hypertension is a difficult issue. The 2006 National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidance for the management of hypertension in adults in primary care recommended the use of clinic measurements taken on multiple occasions. However, this process was both protracted and potentially inaccurate. As a result, some patients may have been inappropriately treated with anti-hypertensive drugs causing both unnecessary side effects and excess costs to the National Health Service (NHS). Others may not have been treated at all resulting in additional cardiovascular events. Given this, NICE has recently updated its guidance in this area to include an increasing role for ‘out-of-office’ techniques, including ambulatory and home monitoring.