Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitoring

See the Whole Blood Pressure Picture

Capture blood pressure beyond the clinic with 24-hour ambulatory monitoring. Spacelabs Healthcare ABPM solutions provide daytime, nighttime, and real-world blood pressure insights to support more informed hypertension assessment and management.

Since 1980

Decades of ABPM experience supporting clinicians and researchers.

24-Hour Insights

Capture daytime, nighttime, and real-world blood pressure patterns.

Clinically Validated

Technology supported by extensive clinical validation and experience.

Clinical & Research Insights

Turn repeated measurements into meaningful trends and patterns.

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Blood pressure doesn't stand still. Why should assessment?

Blood pressure changes throughout the day and night in response to activity, stress, rest, medication, sleep, and other physiological and environmental factors. Office blood pressure measurements provide important clinical information, but they represent only a snapshot of a patient's blood pressure at a particular moment.
Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitoring (ABPM) extends assessment beyond the clinical environment by automatically measuring blood pressure at regular intervals while patients go about their normal daily activities and sleep. The result is a more comprehensive view of blood pressure across the full day-night cycle.
A compact ambulatory monitor is connected to an appropriately sized upper-arm cuff and worn by the patient for approximately 24 hours. Throughout the monitoring period, the device collects dozens of measurements that can help clinicians understand blood pressure during:
Morning activities
Work and daytime activities
Periods of stress and movement
Rest and relaxation
Evening activities
Sleep
Early-morning hours

Key takeaway: Instead of relying on isolated measurements, clinicians can evaluate patterns and changes across a patient's real-world day. 24 hours. Day and night. A more complete blood pressure picture.

Why Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitoring Matters

Accurate blood pressure measurement is fundamental to hypertension assessment and management. Yet blood pressure can be influenced by patient anxiety, measurement technique, temporary physiological changes, activity, and the clinical environment itself. ABPM helps reduce this uncertainty by collecting repeated measurements under real-world conditions.

24-Hour Blood Pressure

Review blood pressure across the complete monitoring period rather than at a single point in time.

Daytime Blood Pressure

Understand how blood pressure behaves while patients perform their normal daily activities.

Nighttime Blood Pressure

Evaluate blood pressure during sleep—information that cannot be obtained from conventional clinic measurements.

Blood Pressure Variability

Identify changes and patterns that may not be visible from individual readings.

Circadian Patterns

Evaluate the relationship between daytime and nighttime blood pressure, including normal and abnormal dipping patterns.

Key takeaway: Together, these measurements provide a broader foundation for hypertension assessment, risk evaluation, and treatment decisions.

Beyond the Office Blood Pressure Reading

What clinic measurements may not reveal

Office blood pressure measurement remains an important part of patient care, but even several readings represent a relatively small sample of a patient's overall blood pressure. ABPM helps clinicians identify blood pressure patterns that might otherwise remain hidden.

White-Coat Hypertension

Some patients experience elevated blood pressure in a clinical environment while their blood pressure outside the clinic remains within a normal range.

This phenomenon, commonly known as white-coat hypertension, can make an office measurement appear higher than the patient's typical blood pressure.

By measuring blood pressure during everyday activities and sleep, ABPM helps clinicians compare office findings with the patient's real-world blood pressure profile.

Masked Hypertension

The opposite can also occur. A patient's blood pressure may appear normal or controlled during a clinic visit while remaining elevated outside the clinical environment.

Known as masked hypertension, this pattern can be difficult to recognize when assessment relies primarily on office measurements.

ABPM provides measurements throughout the patient's normal day and night, helping reveal blood pressure elevations that may not be apparent during an appointment.

A Limited Snapshot

Blood pressure changes continuously. One or two measurements cannot fully represent the fluctuations that occur during activity, stress, medication cycles, rest, and sleep.

ABPM provides repeated measurements over approximately 24 hours, helping clinicians move from individual readings toward a more complete assessment of blood pressure behavior.

Nighttime Blood Pressure: Insights You Can't See in the Clinic

Sleep represents a significant portion of the 24-hour blood pressure cycle. In many individuals, blood pressure normally decreases during sleep. This physiological change is commonly referred to as nocturnal dipping. ABPM enables clinicians to evaluate nighttime blood pressure behavior and identify patterns such as:

Normal Dipping

Blood pressure decreases during sleep as expected.

Non-Dipping

Nighttime blood pressure does not decrease to the expected degree.

Reverse Dipping

Blood pressure increases rather than decreases during sleep.

Isolated Nocturnal Hypertension

Blood pressure is elevated during sleep even when daytime or clinic measurements may appear normal.

Key takeaway: These patterns cannot be adequately assessed through conventional office blood pressure measurements alone. Nighttime and 24-hour blood pressure measurements provide important information for cardiovascular risk assessment, adding another dimension to hypertension evaluation.

ABPM and Cardiovascular Risk Assessment

Blood pressure assessment is about more than identifying a high number. The duration, timing, variability, and pattern of elevated blood pressure can all contribute to understanding a patient's cardiovascular risk.
Ambulatory measurements—particularly 24-hour and nighttime blood pressure—have demonstrated a strong relationship with cardiovascular outcomes. By providing measurements throughout normal activity and sleep, ABPM can help clinicians better understand a patient's true blood pressure exposure. This broader perspective can support:
Cardiovascular risk assessment
Hypertension diagnosis
Identification of blood pressure phenotypes
Treatment planning
Evaluation of antihypertensive therapy
Longitudinal patient management

Better information supports better-informed decisions.

How Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitoring Works

ABPM is a noninvasive approach designed to fit into a patient's normal day.
1

Prepare the Patient

A compact ambulatory blood pressure monitor is connected to an appropriately sized upper-arm cuff.

The monitor is programmed in the clinical setting, and the patient receives instructions for the monitoring period.

2

Begin 24-Hour Monitoring

The patient leaves the clinical environment wearing the monitor and continues normal daily activities.

The device automatically inflates the cuff and records blood pressure at predetermined intervals—commonly more frequently during daytime hours and at longer intervals during sleep.

3

Capture Day and Night Measurements

Throughout the monitoring period, the system collects blood pressure measurements during normal real-world conditions.

Patients may also document sleep and wake times, medication intake, physical activity, symptoms, and significant events. This contextual information can help clinicians interpret changes in the blood pressure record.

4

Download and Review the Results

After the monitoring period, the patient returns the monitor and the recorded information is downloaded for analysis.

Clinicians can review mean 24-hour, daytime, and nighttime blood pressure, blood pressure variability, individual measurements, circadian patterns, and nocturnal dipping status.

Key takeaway: The result is a structured view of blood pressure behavior that can support diagnosis, treatment decisions, and follow-up.

Supporting Hypertension Diagnosis

Determining whether a patient has sustained hypertension can require information beyond an office measurement. ABPM provides objective measurements outside the clinical environment and can help clinicians distinguish among different blood pressure patterns.
ABPM can be particularly valuable when:
Office blood pressure is elevated
White-coat hypertension is suspected
Masked hypertension is suspected
Clinic and out-of-office measurements do not agree
Nighttime hypertension is a concern
Blood pressure variability requires further assessment
Treatment effectiveness needs to be evaluated
More detailed blood pressure information is needed for clinical decision-making

Key takeaway: By capturing the patient's blood pressure during real-world activities and sleep, ABPM provides additional evidence to support diagnostic confidence.

Evaluate Treatment Across the Full Day and Night

Hypertension management does not end with diagnosis. Clinicians also need reliable information to understand whether treatment is providing adequate blood pressure control throughout the patient's daily routine.
An office measurement may indicate that blood pressure is controlled at the time of an appointment while providing little information about what happens later in the day, overnight, or before the next medication dose. ABPM can help evaluate treatment response by showing blood pressure behavior throughout the 24-hour cycle.
Overall 24-hour blood pressure control
Daytime treatment response
Nighttime blood pressure control
Changes in blood pressure patterns
Response to antihypertensive medications
Blood pressure variability
Changes between monitoring periods

Key takeaway: Repeat ABPM can also provide an objective method for comparing blood pressure profiles over time and supporting longitudinal hypertension management.

Designed Around the Patient's Real Life

The quality of ambulatory blood pressure information depends in part on obtaining sufficient measurements throughout the monitoring period. That makes the patient experience an important consideration.
An ambulatory monitor should allow patients to continue as much of their normal routine as possible while measurements are collected during both waking and sleeping hours. Spacelabs Healthcare ABPM solutions are designed with the patient experience in mind, including considerations such as:
Compact, lightweight monitoring
Discreet wearable design
Controlled inflation
Multiple cuff sizes
Settings designed to support nighttime monitoring
Freedom to continue normal daily activities

Key takeaway: Supporting patient comfort and compliance can contribute to a successful monitoring session and the collection of useful 24-hour blood pressure information.

Proven Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitoring Technology

Confidence built on decades of clinical use

Blood pressure information can influence important diagnostic and treatment decisions. The technology used to obtain those measurements matters. Spacelabs Healthcare ambulatory blood pressure monitoring technology has a long history of clinical and research use.
Spacelabs ABPM systems have been used across hundreds of clinical studies, including major hypertension research programs and landmark trials. Spacelabs ABPM devices have also demonstrated compliance with recognized international blood pressure validation standards and protocols, including applicable:

AAMI/ANSI/ISO standards

European Society of Hypertension protocols

British Hypertension Society protocols

Key takeaway: This combination of validation, clinical experience, and research use supports confidence in ambulatory blood pressure measurements across a variety of healthcare environments.

From Measurement to Meaningful Clinical Insight

Collecting blood pressure measurements is only part of effective ambulatory monitoring. Clinicians also need an efficient way to review and interpret the information.
Spacelabs Healthcare ABPM solutions support structured analysis and reporting designed to transform multiple blood pressure readings into meaningful clinical information. Following a monitoring session, healthcare professionals can evaluate trends and patterns across the full recording period rather than manually interpreting dozens of isolated measurements. This can help support consistent assessment of:
24-hour averages
Daytime averages
Nighttime averages
Blood pressure trends
Dipping status
Blood pressure variability
Individual measurements and events
Changes between monitoring periods

Key takeaway: Structured reporting also provides a clinical reference that can support communication, treatment planning, and longitudinal comparison.

ABPM Across the Continuum of Care

Ambulatory blood pressure monitoring can support hypertension assessment and management across multiple clinical environments.

Primary Care

ABPM can help confirm suspected hypertension, evaluate discrepancies between office and out-of-office measurements, and provide additional information for treatment decisions.

Cardiology

Detailed 24-hour blood pressure information can contribute to cardiovascular risk assessment and hypertension management.

Nephrology

Because hypertension and kidney health are closely connected, ambulatory blood pressure patterns can provide valuable information for patients requiring more comprehensive blood pressure assessment.

Hypertension Clinics

Specialized hypertension programs can use ABPM for diagnosis, blood pressure phenotyping, treatment evaluation, and longitudinal monitoring.

Pharmacy-Based Care

Where regulations and clinical practice allow, pharmacies can incorporate ABPM into hypertension services, expanding access to out-of-office blood pressure assessment and supporting collaboration with other healthcare professionals.

Clinical Research

ABPM provides standardized, repeated blood pressure measurements and has been extensively used in hypertension research and clinical trials.

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Ambulatory blood pressure monitoring designed for confident care

Spacelabs Healthcare offers ambulatory blood pressure monitoring technology designed to support clinical accuracy, patient comfort, efficient data collection, and meaningful analysis.
OnTrak 90227 ambulatory blood pressure monitor

OnTrak

A modern ambulatory blood pressure monitoring solution designed to support reliable 24-hour blood pressure assessment while considering both clinical workflow and the patient experience.

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Why Choose Spacelabs Healthcare for ABPM?

Experience you can measure. Insights you can use.

Since 1980, Spacelabs Healthcare has supported clinicians and researchers with ambulatory blood pressure monitoring technology designed for accurate measurements, efficient workflows, and the realities of patient care.

Clinically Validated Technology

ABPM solutions supported by extensive validation and clinical experience.

24-Hour Blood Pressure Insights

Capture daytime, nighttime, and real-world blood pressure behavior.

Patient-Focused Design

Compact, wearable solutions designed to support patient comfort during everyday activities and sleep.

Powerful Analysis and Reporting

Transform multiple measurements into structured clinical information.

Workflow Support

Solutions designed to help healthcare organizations efficiently implement and manage ambulatory blood pressure monitoring.

Clinical and Technical Expertise

Support that extends beyond installation to help organizations successfully integrate ABPM into their care environment.

Frequently Asked Questions About ABPM

Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitoring is a noninvasive method of automatically measuring a patient's blood pressure at regular intervals over approximately 24 hours while the patient continues normal daily activities and sleeps.
An office measurement provides blood pressure information from a specific moment in a clinical environment. ABPM collects repeated measurements throughout the day and night, providing information about blood pressure during activity, rest, and sleep.
Yes. ABPM can help identify situations where blood pressure is elevated in the clinical setting but is lower outside the clinic.
ABPM can help reveal elevated blood pressure outside the clinical environment when office measurements appear normal or controlled.
Yes. Nighttime monitoring is one of the important capabilities of ABPM. It enables clinicians to evaluate nighttime blood pressure and patterns such as nocturnal dipping, non-dipping, reverse dipping, and isolated nocturnal hypertension.
ABPM is typically performed over approximately 24 hours so measurements can be obtained across daytime activities and nighttime sleep.
Patients are generally encouraged to continue their usual daily activities during monitoring while following instructions provided by their healthcare professional and minimizing excessive arm movement during individual measurements.
Measurement intervals are programmed by the healthcare professional. Measurements are commonly collected every 15–30 minutes during daytime periods and every 30–60 minutes during sleep.
Clinicians may use ABPM information to support hypertension diagnosis, distinguish white-coat and masked hypertension, evaluate nighttime blood pressure, assess 24-hour blood pressure patterns, evaluate treatment response, and support ongoing hypertension management.

See the Whole Blood Pressure Picture

Blood pressure is a 24-hour story. Understanding that story requires information that extends beyond a single measurement and beyond the walls of the clinic.
Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitoring provides clinicians with a comprehensive view of blood pressure during normal daily activities and sleep—helping reveal patterns, variability, and nighttime behavior that conventional office measurements may not capture.
With clinically validated technology, decades of experience, patient-focused monitoring, and powerful reporting, Spacelabs Healthcare helps healthcare professionals turn 24-hour blood pressure measurements into meaningful clinical insight.

Better information. Better-informed decisions. Better care.

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