Heart group urges home blood pressure monitoring

The American Heart Association has updated its 1993 guidelines on blood pressure (BP) measurement, putting more emphasis on home monitoring.

The update was needed, Dr. Thomas G. Pickering told Reuters Health, because it has become clear that traditional office measurement is enhanced "by having patients record their blood pressure at home."

"In my own practice," he noted, "just about all my patients who have high blood pressure are now encouraged to monitor themselves at home." Automated electronic devices are now widely available, he said, and cost from $50 to $100.

The guideline authors note that home monitoring is a convenient way for tracking blood pressure over long periods of time, and there is some evidence that it may encourage people to maintain better blood pressure control by sticking to their medications.

Pickering recommends that patients bring their monitor to their doctor's office to ensure that the device is giving proper readings and that the patient is correctly using it.

Home monitoring may be particular valuable for people whose blood pressure jumps as soon as they're in the doctor's office - so-called "white-coat hypertension."

It's also useful for those with the opposite condition, masked hypertension - blood pressure that is normal in the doctor's office, but high in daily life.

"So if patients come in and say they've checked their blood pressure at home and it's high, while the doctor gets low readings," Pickering cautioned, "the physician should not laugh it off and say, 'you don't have a problem'."