More older people should be checking blood pressure at home

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In a study from Michigan Medicine, scientists found that only 48% of people aged 50 to 80 who take blood pressure medications or have a health condition that’s affected by hypertension regularly check their blood pressure at home or other places.

A somewhat higher number – but still only 62% – say a health care provider encouraged them to perform such checks.

Poll respondents whose providers had recommended they check their blood pressure at home were three and a half times more likely to do so than those who didn’t recall getting such a recommendation.

The findings underscore the importance of exploring the reasons why at-risk patients aren’t checking their blood pressure, and why providers aren’t recommending they check – as well as finding ways to prompt more people with these health conditions to check their blood pressure regularly.

The team says this could play an important role in helping patients live longer and maintain heart and brain health.

Past research has shown that regular home monitoring can help with blood pressure control and that better control can mean a reduced risk of dying of heart events including strokes and heart attacks, cognitive impairment, and dementia.

In the current study, researchers used data come from the National Poll on Healthy Aging and build on a report issued last year.

The poll asked adults aged 50 to 80 about their chronic health conditions, blood pressure monitoring outside of clinic settings, and interactions with health providers about blood pressure.

The data in the study come from the 1,247 respondents who said they were either taking medication to control their blood pressure or had a chronic health condition that requires blood pressure control – specifically, a history of stroke, coronary heart disease, congestive heart failure, diabetes, chronic kidney disease or hypertension.

Of them, 55% said they own a blood pressure monitor, though some said they don’t ever use it.

Among those who do use it, there was wide variation in how often they checked their pressure – and only about half said they share their readings with a health provider.

But those who own a monitor were more than 10 times more likely to check their blood pressure outside of health care settings than those who don’t own one.

The authors note that blood pressure monitoring is associated with lower blood pressure and is cost-effective.

They say that the results suggest that protocols should be developed to educate patients about the importance of self-blood pressure monitoring and sharing readings with clinicians.

If you care about blood pressure, please read studies that common painkillers can harm your blood pressure, and some high blood pressure drugs may actually raise blood pressure.

For more information about blood pressure control, please see recent studies about teas that may help reduce high blood pressure, and results showing vitamin B could help treat drug-resistant high blood pressure.

The study was conducted by Mellanie V. Springer et al and published in JAMA Network Open.

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