Physician sees home blood pressure monitoring more accurate

DALLAS Accurate blood pressure readings used to diagnose risk of future cardiovascular disease events may be better taken at home as opposed to a clinic setting, Lawrence Krakoff, a doctor with the Department of Medicine, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, wrote in the Nov. 1 issue of American Heart Association’s journal Hypertension.

“Clinical science has clearly shown that blood pressures measured in the clinic are inferior to those measured outside the clinic in ‘real life’ for predicting future cardiovascular mortality and morbidity,” Krakoff wrote, suggesting that more research be done comparing clinic blood pressure measurements alongside home-blood pressure measurements. “Two strategies have been widely studied in this regard: 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure monitoring and home blood pressure recording—both have also been assessed for their role in determining the effectiveness of antihypertensive treatment. Most reports have assessed one or the other modality, but not both,” he wrote. “An orderly and comprehensive comparison of clinic pressures, ambulatory monitoring pressures, and home blood pressures during antihypertensive treatment may yield important insights.”