High blood pressure, also called hypertension, is one of the most common health problems in the world. Many people do not even know they have it because it often does not cause clear symptoms.
However, if high blood pressure is not treated, it can quietly damage the body over many years. It raises the risk of heart attacks, strokes, kidney disease, and other serious health problems. Because of these dangers, finding and treating high blood pressure early is very important.
Doctors usually measure blood pressure during clinic visits. A nurse or doctor wraps a cuff around the patient’s arm, inflates it, and records the numbers.
These readings are often used to decide whether someone has high blood pressure and whether they need treatment. But a new study suggests that readings taken only in a clinic may not always give the full picture.
The research was carried out by scientists at Kaiser Permanente, a large healthcare organization in the United States. Between 2017 and 2019, the team worked with 12 primary care centers in Western Washington.
They studied 510 adults who were considered at high risk of developing high blood pressure. These were people who might not yet have been diagnosed, but whose health history suggested they could develop the condition.
The participants were divided into three groups. The first group had their blood pressure checked during normal doctor visits, just as most patients do. The second group was given a home blood pressure monitor and asked to check their own blood pressure at home. The third group used blood pressure kiosks.
These kiosks are automatic machines often found in pharmacies or clinics that allow people to measure their blood pressure without a healthcare worker present.
To find out which method was most accurate, the researchers used a special device called a 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure monitor, or ABPM. This small monitor is worn on the body and takes blood pressure readings many times during the day and night.
It even measures blood pressure while a person is sleeping. Because it tracks changes over a full day, ABPM is considered the most reliable way to measure blood pressure.
When the researchers compared the results, they found something important. The blood pressure readings taken at home were very close to the readings from the 24-hour monitor.
This shows that home blood pressure monitors can provide results that are highly accurate. In other words, people who checked their blood pressure at home were getting numbers that closely matched the gold standard method.
However, the readings taken in the doctor’s office were often lower than the readings from the 24-hour monitor. This means that some people who actually had high blood pressure were told their numbers were normal.
In fact, more than half of the people in the clinic-only group were not correctly diagnosed. This could delay treatment and increase the risk of future health problems.
On the other hand, the kiosk readings were often higher than the 24-hour monitor readings. This means that some people might have been told they had high blood pressure when they did not. Such false alarms could cause unnecessary worry or even lead to treatment that is not needed.
The study suggests that relying only on clinic readings may not be the best approach. Blood pressure can change throughout the day.
It can rise when a person is stressed, anxious, or uncomfortable. Some people feel nervous at medical appointments, which can affect their numbers. Because clinic readings capture only one moment in time, they may miss important changes that happen during daily life.
Many participants in the study also reported that they preferred checking their blood pressure at home. It was more convenient and comfortable. They could measure it several times over different days. This helped them feel more involved in managing their own health.
Current health guidelines already suggest using either 24-hour monitoring or home blood pressure checks to confirm a diagnosis of hypertension. However, in everyday practice, many doctors still mainly rely on office readings. This study, which was published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, may encourage greater use of home monitoring.
More research is still needed to understand the best way to include home blood pressure monitoring in regular healthcare. But the message from this study is clear. If you want a more complete and accurate picture of your blood pressure, measuring it at home could be one of the best steps you can take to protect your heart and overall health.
If you care about high blood pressure, please read studies that early time-restricted eating could help improve blood pressure, and natural coconut sugar could help reduce blood pressure and artery stiffness.
For more information about blood pressure, please see recent studies about How to eat your way to healthy blood pressure and results showing that Modified traditional Chinese cuisine can lower blood pressure.
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