The Fluctuations in Blood Pressure at Various Physiological Positions - A Review

Hypertension affects hundreds of millions of subjects worldwide and currently represents a major public health issue in the agenda of all developed countries. Both for the identification and clinical management of hypertensive subjects, the measurement of blood pressure (BP) is a crucial practice. Current guidelines suggests that BP can be measured indifferently in supine or sitting position, although it has been repeatedly documented that diastolic (DBP) and, less convincingly, systolic (SBP) 8 BP can be higher if measured in sitting position. Given that the differences between supine and sitting BP have been found to be relatively small, health professionals commonly do not consider or underestimate the effect of position when interpreting the results of BP measurements. However, even a mean difference of a few millimetres of mmHg may have relevant implications, because those individuals with larger differences in BP as measured in supine or sitting position may be at risk of substantial changes in their therapeutic history according to the position of the measurement.