How Long Shall the Patient Rest Before Clinic Blood Pressure Measurement?

In untreated essential hypertensive patients a significant decrease in SBP and DBP associated with a systemic vasodilation was observed during a 16-min rest in the chair-seated position. Because approximately 75% of the spontaneous fall in BP occurred within 10 min, it appears that this time at rest before clinic BP evaluation could improve the precision and accuracy of the measurement.