Regularly checking blood pressure can play an important role in prolonging a patient’s life and maintaining heart and brain health.
Only about half of individuals with hypertension or blood pressure-related conditions have regular monitoring, but medical professional guidelines recommend more frequent monitoring at home for older adults.
A recent study found that among individuals between the ages of 50 and 80 who use blood pressure medications or who have medical conditions affected by hypertension, frequent blood pressure monitoring at home or elsewhere is recommended. Only 48% do.
A slightly higher proportion — still only 62% — said they were recommended to have these tests by a medical professional. Respondents who reported that their health care provider advised them to monitor their blood pressure at home were 3.5 times more likely to do so than those who did not remember receiving such advice.
This result highlights the importance of investigating why at-risk patients do not have their blood pressure checked and why health care providers do not advise them to have their blood pressure checked. Do it regularly. According to the study authors, this can be very important in prolonging patient life and maintaining heart and brain health.
Previous research has shown that regular home blood pressure monitoring may help control blood pressure, and that greater control may reduce the risk of death from cardiovascular events such as stroke and heart attack. It has been. and of cognitive impairment and dementia.
Findings are published in Journal JAMA network open by the Michigan Medical team, of the University of Michigan Academic Medical Center. The data comes from a national poll on healthy aging and is based on a report published last year.
Based at the UM Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation and supported by Michigan Medicine and AARP, the poll surveyed adults aged 50 to 80 on chronic health conditions, out-of-office blood pressure monitoring, blood pressure We asked about interactions with health care providers regarding Study authors Mellanie V. Springer, M.D., Ph.D., Department of Neurology, Michigan Medical School, and Deborah Levine, M.D., Ph.D., Department of Internal Medicine, worked with the NPHA team to develop the questionnaire questions and analyze the findings.
Data from the new paper show that people who take medication to control blood pressure or have a history of chronic medical conditions that require blood pressure control, specifically stroke, coronary heart disease, or congestive heart failure. from 1,247 respondents who answered , diabetes, chronic kidney disease or hypertension.
Of those, 55% said they own a blood pressure monitor, but some say they have never used one. Among active users, there was wide variability in how often they checked their pressure, and only about half said they shared their measurements with their healthcare provider. But those who owned a monitor were more than 10 times more likely to have their blood pressure checked outside a medical facility than those who didn’t.
The authors note that blood pressure monitoring is associated with lower blood pressure and is cost-effective. They say the results suggest that protocols should be developed to educate patients about the importance of self-monitoring blood pressure and sharing readings with clinicians.
Reference: “Prevalence and frequency of self-monitoring of blood pressure in US adults aged 50-80.” Mellanie V. Springer, MD, MS, Preeti Malani, MD, MSJ, Erica Solway, Ph.D., MSW, MPH, Matthias Kirch, MS, Dianne C. Singer, MPH, Jeffrey T. Kullgren, MD, MS, MPH, Deborah A. Levine, MD, MPH, 14 September 2022, JAMA network open.
DOI: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.31772
This research was funded by the University of Michigan and AARP.
