Contribution of ambulatory blood pressure monitoring to the design and analysis of antihypertensive therapy trials.

Ambulatory blood pressure monitoring is an accepted method of blood pressure measurement in hypertension trials. It is more reproducible than office blood pressure, does not show a placebo effect, and excludes white-coat hypertensive people, therefore offering significant advantages over office-based measurement. Investigators are aware of these advantages, and the use of ambulatory monitoring in hypertension trials is increasing.