Home BP Monitoring
Home BP monitoring was performed over 1 week using a validated self-inflating automatic oscillometric device (HEM 705 CP or 790 IT; Omron Healthcare). Patients were instructed in the use of this monitor and asked not to share this monitor with others. Patients were asked to record their BP 3 times daily—on waking up, between noon and 6 PM, and at bedtime—and log this on a chart provided for this purpose. In some participants, home BP was recorded twice daily in triplicate for 4 days after the midweek dialysis. The average of all readings by day was taken as those representing the overall home BP. Because this monitor is equipped with a memory and printer, only those recordings that were recorded in the memory of the monitor were used.