Self measurement of blood pressure is increasingly common among hypertensive patients. These out of office measurements are clinically useful in avoiding misdiagnosis of hypertension, over treatment and under treatment of hypertension, and as a measure to increase compliance and reduce the cost of antihypertensive therapy. This paper will address the clinical relevance of out of office blood pressure measurement related to hypertension management, the instruments available to perform out of office blood pressure measurement, and the current problems of interpretation of these blood pressure values as they relate to subsequent development of hypertension derived cardiovascular disease. (c)1999 by Le Jacq Communications, Inc.