24-Hour Monitoring Better Than Clinical Blood Pressure Readings
Posted on: Tuesday, 25 November 2008, 15:20 CST
Researchers have found that while blood pressure readings taken at a clinic may not be an accurate means of predicting a patient’s risk of heart failure or stroke, daily readings at regular intervals may prove to be more efficient.
About 10 to 30 percent of people with high blood pressure do not respond to treatment, these patients may be able to manage their disease through regularly monitoring their blood pressure using small device that takes readings at regular intervals during a 24-hour period.
Dr. Gil Salles of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil and colleagues studied 556 patients with resistant high blood pressure who attended an outpatient clinic between 1999 and 2004.
These patients were followed up at least three to four times a year until December 2007. After about five years of follow-up, 19.6 percent had some kind of heart problem or had died from heart disease.
After about five years of follow-up, 19.6 percent had some kind of heart problem or had died from heart disease.
"This study has important clinical implications," Salles, whose study appears in the Archives of Internal Medicine, said in a statement.
He said it reinforces the value of blood pressure monitoring that gives readings over a full 24-hour period, and it underscores the predictive value of nighttime blood pressure readings in patients with uncontrolled blood pressure.
Blood pressure readings done in the doctor's office often are skewed by the "white coat effect" in which the stress of being in the doctor's office affects the reading. Some medical groups have called for home monitoring of blood pressure for this reason.
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Source: redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports
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