Measuring your own blood pressure at home

In the last article, I wrote about measuring your own cardiovascular risk. This also involves measuring your blood pressure, which you can do yourselves at home.

There are many instruments available for home blood pressure (HBP) measurement that you can buy from chemist shops or online, but it would be a good idea to check if they have been validated, on this site.

The questions we need to answer are:

Is HBP acceptable?

The answer is…Yes. The 2020 International Society of Hypertension Global Hypertension Practice Guidelines [1] are very clear about this. Not only that, HBP measurements are often better than measurements at the doctor’s office [2] due to the presence of the “white coat” problem [3] that raises the blood pressure in the doctor’s office due to stress and anxiety. 

How does one measure and with what frequency? 

Again, the The 2020 International Society of Hypertension Global Hypertension Practice Guidelines lay out exactly how the measurements should be done. The CDC site also has pictures that show how this is to be done.

 In short, you need to measure after 5 minutes of rest in the sitting position with two measurements 1 minute apart, once in the morning and once in the evening, for 3-7 days and then average out the readings. 

What do I do if the blood pressure is above 135/85 mm Hg?

See an appropriate doctor. With the doctor’s help, try to manage the high blood pressure first with physical activity and sensible eating. If that doesn’t work, then start medication, and work with your doctor to create a good plan.

Can I manage and monitor my blood pressure by myself?

The answer is…Yes [4]. More and more, for uncomplicated and mild disease, the idea is for people with elevated blood pressures to manage their blood pressure by themselves using HBP and titration of their medicines, like so many people do with diabetes. 

Footnotes

1. Unger Ttal. 2020 International Society of Hypertension Global Hypertension Practice Guidelines. Hypertension. 2020 Jun;75(6):1334-1357. 
2. Schwartz JE et al. Reliability of Office, Home, and Ambulatory Blood Pressure Measurements and Correlation With Left Ventricular Mass. Journal of the American College of Cardiology. 2020 Dec;76(25):2911–22.

3. Stergiou GS,etal; European Society of Hypertension Council and the European Society of Hypertension Working Group on Blood Pressure Monitoring and Cardiovascular Variability. 2021 European Society of Hypertension practice guidelines for office and out-of-office blood pressure measurement. J Hypertens. 2021 Jul 1;39(7):1293-1302.

4. Haff N, Choudhry NK. Helping Patients Manage Their Own Blood Pressures: A Strategy to Address Hypertension Control in the United States. Circ Cardiovasc Qual Outcomes. 2021 Aug 2:CIRCOUTCOMES121008220.

END OF ARTICLE