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Palliative Medicine
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Should we screen hospice inpatients for orthostatic hypotension?

J C Chambers

Specialist Registrar, Sir Michael Sobell House, Churchill Hospital, Oxford, UK

Orthostatic hypotension (OH) is defined as a reduction in systolic blood pressure of at least 20 mm Hg or a reduction in diastolic blood pressure of at least 10 mm Hg within three minutes of standing, with a reported prevalence of 40% in the hospice setting. Dizziness, falls and fractures have been attributed to OH and some cases of symptomatic OH might be reversible. This study explored the case for screening hospice inpatients for OH. Fiftynine patients were screened up to five times and, whilst the detection rate was 27%, in no case was it reproducible. There was no statistical association between orthostatic symptoms and the detection of OH, and no patients benefited from the screening process. On closer examination of the literature, the current definition of OH might benefit from revision, sphygmomanometry is an unsatisfactory screening method and there is currently no case for screening hospice inpatients for OH.

Key Words: orthostatic hypotension • screening • hospice

Palliative Medicine, Vol. 19, No. 4, 314-318 (2005)
DOI: 10.1191/0269216305pm1027oa
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Orthostatic hypotension: framework of the syndrome
Postgrad. Med. J., September 1, 2007; 83(983): 568 - 574.
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