Daytime, Nighttime Blood Pressure Both Important

Changes already have begun, Pickering said.

"One of the trends is less reliance on blood pressure monitoring in the doctor's office," he said. That trend is being held back, because many health insurance plans do not reimburse for out-of-office monitoring, and because the do-it-yourself technology is lagging somewhat, he said.

Newer home monitors are coming along, Pickering said. "What is going to happen in the future is the availability of monitors that will allow you to take your blood pressure readings at night," he said.

The recommendations that the heart association committee is about to make will principally cover daytime home blood pressure monitoring, Pickering said. "Reading blood pressure at night is a bit in the future," he said.

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The new report is valuable, because it puts the issue in perspective, said Dr. George Bakris, director of the hypertensive disorders unit at the University of Chicago.

"There has been tremendous focus on early a.m. readings as giving the highest risk for stroke and so on, so the conclusion some people have made is that the rest of the day is not important," Bakris said. "The beauty of this thing is that it shows that nighttime pressure tells us about certain things, while daytime pressure tells us about other things. It's clear that the night/day ratio is important."

More information

There's more on high blood pressure at the U.S. National Library of Medicine.