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HowToPreventHeartDisease.com |
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Can Regular Home Monitoring Help People with Hypertension? Hypertension (high blood pressure) is a risk factor for heart disease and it might lead to heart attack, stroke and even death. When blood pulses forcefully through vessels can damage the heart, kidneys and other organs. It is rather common as people become older. Every year, about 7 million people in the United States die of hypertension. Most people with hypertension usually have their blood pressure checked a few times a year by their doctors and this is merely not enough. Doctors need closer check to fine tune medications so as to control the high blood pressure. Statistics show that only one-third of people with hypertension have their blood pressure under control. On May 22, 2008, a statement was published online in the journal “Hypertension” by the American Heart Association, the American Society of Hypertension and the Preventive Cardiovascular Nurses' Association urging individuals with high blood pressure to own a home monitor and do regular pressure checks, as they believe that regular home monitoring is more accurate. Each home monitor cost between US$50 to US$100 on the Internet and at pharmacies.
When seeing a doctor, blood pressure often goes up with the so-called ‘white coat’ effect. As such, readings of 140 over 90 at doctor’s clinic and 135 over 85 at home are considered high. Moreover, readings also change throughout the day. To help control hypertension, doctors may need to prescribe patients with a mix of different types of medicines. It is not an easy task to find the right dose and combination. Home monitoring can help doctor to optimize the medications because home monitoring could give a better picture of pressure variations and the response to a particular drug. According to the experts who issue the statement, home monitoring are especially important for the elderly, pregnant women, diabetics and those with kidney disease. They recommend automated, arm-cuff devices, and they feel that wrist and finger ones are inaccurate. Meanwhile, people should bring their device along when they see their doctor so that measurements could be compared to make sure the machine is working probably. The correct way of measuring blood pressure at home is to take 2 or 3 readings at a time with 1 minute interval while sitting with the arm supported. Readings should also be taken at the same time each day, for example morning and evening, for a week. It is believed that 12 readings could help doctors decide on how to prescribe medications for their patients and this could be repeated as long as the doctors feel that the condition is not stable. Studies do suggest that home blood pressure monitors could actually improve blood pressure control, and that a 2-point reduction in the reading would result a 4 per cent drop in heart disease death rates. Nevertheless, one should note that many blood pressure drugs have been approved without proof that they lower deaths, and there is a lack of direct evidence that home monitoring blood pressure will reduce the risk of heart attack, stroke or death, though the experts believe that it would.
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