take one or two blood pressure measurements in the doctor’s office, will never be as reliable and accurate as regular blood pressure measurement at home. In any case, this is what the doctors at the Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute, in Seattle (United States), claim. “Blood pressure varies throughout the day – by about 30 points for systolic pressure, or the pressure when the heart beats – and one or two measurements in a doctor’s office may not accurately reflect a patient’s true blood pressure. “said Dr. Beverly Green, lead author of the study.
For this study, physicians selected patients being monitored for high blood pressure and randomly assigned them to home or physician blood pressure monitoring. Each patient also received a ambulatory blood pressure measuring device 24 hours, or MAPA. These devices, which people must wear continuously for 24 hours, have armbands that inflate every 20 to 30 minutes during the day and every 30 to 60 minutes at night. It is the reference test for accurately diagnosing high blood pressure and for checking the effectiveness of antihypertensive treatment.
This is what allowed them to discover that the figures taken by taking the blood pressure in the doctor’s office were generally lower than the ABPM measurements, “resulting in undiagnosed high blood pressure in more than 50% of cases” insist the researchers. For these, it is important to teach patients to monitor their blood pressure regularly at home. In addition to more precise figures, this would also allow them to understand the stakes of this silent disease.
>> How to take your blood pressure at home? Perform 3 measurements spaced one to two minutes apart, in the morning before breakfast and before taking your medication. Also perform 3 measurements spaced one to two minutes apart in the evening before going to bed. And repeat these measurements twice a day for 3 days in a row.
Source : Clinic, Home, and Kiosk Blood Pressure Measurements for Diagnosing Hypertension: a Randomized Diagnostic StudyJournal of General Internal Medicine, March 2022
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