– Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitoring
The gold standard for diagnosing high blood pressure — measuring throughout your real daily life, not just in a clinic.
Monitoring Duration
24 Hours
Preparation Required
None
Results
2–3 Days
– What is a 24 Hour BP Monitor?
Ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) is the gold-standard method for accurately assessing blood pressure. A cuff is fitted to your upper arm and connected to a small monitor worn on a belt. Throughout the following 24 hours, the cuff automatically inflates and records your blood pressure at regular intervals — typically every 20–30 minutes during the day and every hour at night.
This approach is far more informative than a single clinic measurement, because it captures how your blood pressure behaves throughout all your normal activities: work, rest, exercise, sleep and stress. It can identify patterns that a single reading entirely misses.
ABPM is particularly valuable for diagnosing “white coat hypertension” — where blood pressure appears elevated in a clinical setting due to anxiety, but is normal elsewhere — and for detecting “masked hypertension”, where blood pressure is normal in clinic but elevated in daily life.
Tracking your blood pressure readings throughout your normal day and night gives a clearer picture to health professionals
Your Appointment
The night-time interval is set to once per hour to minimise disturbance. Most patients find they adapt quickly and do not find it significantly disruptive. The night-time readings are clinically very important, so the slight disturbance is a necessary trade-off for comprehensive data.
Your report will include your average daytime blood pressure (the key diagnostic figure), average night-time blood pressure, 24-hour overall average, the percentage of readings above normal thresholds, your nocturnal dipping pattern (whether blood pressure drops appropriately during sleep), and a clinical summary with recommendations.
Based on NICE guidelines, the thresholds used are: Stage 1 hypertension — daytime average above 135/85 mmHg; Stage 2 hypertension — daytime average above 150/95 mmHg. These thresholds differ from clinic measurements precisely because ABPM readings more accurately reflect true blood pressure. Your report will clearly contextualise your readings against these values.
This depends on the reason for the test. If you are being assessed for a new diagnosis, you may be asked to withhold medication on the day — your referring clinician will advise. If the test is to monitor the effectiveness of existing medication, you should take your medication as normal. When in doubt, call our team before your appointment and we will confirm the appropriate approach.
45 South Street,
Dorking,
Surrey,
RH4 2JX
