How Should Elevated Blood Pressure Be Managed in Hospital?

Abstract

AbstractDuring hospitalization, patients' blood pressure often varies substantially from their outpatient steady state and many patients experience marked fluctuations. Given a lack of guidelines for inpatient blood pressure management, treatment patterns vary and recent observational studies demonstrate intensive inpatient blood pressure treatment may be been associated with harm. This article reviews current knowledge in inpatient blood pressure management and proposes a randomized trial to compare clinical outcomes of more versus less restrictive blood pressure goals.