Arterial hypertension control: still without definition

Abstract

The debate on the maintained arterial tension measure, and on the measure to obtain through the long term treatment, is currently a problem for the medical practitioner, due to the variation of arterial tension during the day at different hours because of the patients circadian cycle, and due to variations in different days according to the proper patient’s situations or the environment around it, and the different seasons of the year. They make it difficult to know when arterial tension is within the parameters accepted as “controlled”. The authors carried out a systematic review of documents published in PubMed, Scielo and MEDLINE in the period 2012-2018, both in English and Spanish, on the arterial tension definition, evaluation and management. The guidelines agree in taking arterial tension measures in different moments for the diagnosis, but not in defining tension control. Defining tension control should include a time dimension of at least a year, and a minimal proportion of measures within the parameters recognized as non-pathological or optimal on the basis of measures taken at least every three months.  Therefore, the authors suggest that an annual profile of the arterial tension parameters should be considered as a minimal requirement  to evaluate arterial hypertension control.