Perspective
Dialysis unit blood pressures neither predict target organ damage nor all-cause mortality in relatively healthy dialysis
patients. Thus, in dialysis patients more so than in the general population, blood pressure measurement and treatment
should occur with recordings made outside the clinic. The results of the study support the view out of dialysis unit BP
being important for prognostication of mortality even after adjustment for nonconventional risk factors. Causality cannot
be implied in a cohort study; however, this study may offer some guidelines with respect to BP goals. Self-measured
systolic BP of _120 to 130 mm Hg and of _110 to 120 mm Hg by ambulatory BP are associated with the best prognosis. These thresholds may be used to test the hypothesis if controlling hypertension in hemodialysis patients using out-of-dialysis unit blood pressure recordings would make a difference to cardiovascular mortality