The statement is issued in Hypertension: Journal of the American Heart Association and published in the June issue of the Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing.
The American Heart Association said monitoring blood pressure at home can be an effective way of tracking and treating hypertension.
It says that blood pressure checks at doctor's offices are vulnerable to normal fluctuations, caused by such things as anxiety. According to the association, previous research has shown that between 10 per cent and 20 per cent of people fall prey to the "white coat effect" in which their blood pressure, which is normal, suddenly spikes.
"It is also believed that some people with normal blood pressures in their doctors' offices have pressures that spike to potentially dangerous levels in other situations," said Thomas Pickering, director of the Center for Behavioral Cardiovascular Health at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center in New York, in a statement.
Measuring blood pressure with an at-home monitor can provide a more accurate snapshot of a person's blood pressure — particularly among the elderly, diabetics, kidney patients and pregnant women, say the authors. And they believe the frequent readings can help doctors work with patients to treat their condition.
"Home blood pressure monitoring also gives patients the physiologic feedback they need to see regarding blood pressure," says Nancy Houston Miller, co-author and former president of the Preventive Cardiovascular Nurses Association.
"Rather than three to four office blood pressure checks per year, if they measure blood pressure at home in addition to following up with their health-care provider, patients are likely to achieve goals more quickly and be confident that medicines are working for them."
The authors point out that many monitors have a price point of $100, which they say is affordable.
The association recommends:
- People buy oscillometric monitors with cuffs that fit the upper arm — wrist monitors are not recommended.
- People take their blood pressure readings at the same time each day to maintain consistency.
- The optimal blood pressure with a home monitor is less than 135/85 millimetres of mercury or less than 130/80 in those patients who are high-risk.
The Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada advises patients to talk to their health-care providers about which types of equipment are best and how to use them.
It recommends people select a unit that has been tested to meet the validation requirements of either the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI), the British Hypertension Society (BHS) or the European Society of Hypertension (ESH).
It says that patients should still see their doctors concerning their blood pressure and that a home unit is not a substitute for regular testing.
For most adults, high blood pressure, or hypertension, is defined as a blood pressure greater than or equal to 140 mm/Hg over 90 mm/Hg systolic pressure, according to the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada.
