Methodological aspects of blood pressure measurement and adherence to antihypertensive drug therapy.

Abstract

Contains fulltext : 53625.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)Hypertension is an important risk-factor for cardiovascular disease. Accurate blood pressure measurements are very important to diagnose hypertension. Nowadays these blood pressure measurements are often performed using automatic devices. One can wonder whether these devices are accurate enough. In this thesis an automatic upper-arm device and wrist-device are tested. The consequences of the accuracy of these devices for the diagnosis and treatment of hypertension are discussed. Hypertension is a largely asymptomatic condition for which life-long drug treatment is often necessary. For adequate treatment of hypertension adherence to antihypertensive drugs is essential. Objective methods to measure drug adherence are currently lacking. In this thesis the measurement of bromide added to antihypertensive drugs is used to measure adherence. The advantages and disadvantages of this method are discussed.RU Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen, 31 januari 2007Promotores : Thien, Th., Lenders, J.W.M.177 p