The epidemiology of ambulatory blood pressure monitoring in Japan

Ambulatory blood pressure monitoring is now being used widely in Japan, Several Japanese studies have value demonstrated that the ambulatory blood pressure is superior to the casual blood pressure in prediction of target organ damage. Ambulatory blood pressure monitoring has also been reported to be more cost effective than are casual blood pressure measurements. Nonetheless, no agreement has been reached regarding its use in clinical settings. This problem has arisen partly because no reference for ambulatory blood pressure value has been established. We reviewed several cross-sectional studies and one prospective study performed in Japan and propose tentatively a reference ambulatory blood pressure value for Japanese: 135/80 mmHg. Further prospective studies are needed in order to confirm this value in different community settings and with different prognostic parameters.