American Heart Association recommends high blood pressure patients use home monitors
A new joint scientific statement was issued by the American Heart Association, American Society of Hypertension and the Preventive Cardiovascular Nurses' Association about the need for people with hypertension to routinely monitor their blood pressure at home to help manage the disease. Click here for more information.
The panel advises the following:
-Use oscillometric monitors with cuffs that fit on the upper arm.
-Use a proper fitting cuff; ask your healthcare provider to show you the correct way to fit the cuff and use the monitor.
-Take two or three readings at one minute apart, while you are sitting and resting.
-When taking readings, make sure your arm is supported, with the upper arm at heart level and your feet on the floor, legs uncrossed. Make sure your back is supported so you are relaxed in the chair.
-Take readings at the same time each day, for instance in the mornings, or in the evenings, or as advised by your healthcare professional.
-Using a home monitor can confirm if you have high blood pressure that was diagnosed by your doctor, or it can rule it out in cases where the reading taken by the doctor in the surgery doesn't accurately reflect what happens to your pressure over a period of time.
-Home monitoring can also help to keep an eye on how you react to blood pressure drugs, and it helps to keep patients motivated to take their medication regularly.
Source: American Heart Association