Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:02 — 1.4MB)

Subscribe: RSS

Besides arm position, must rest also be a part of blood pressure measurement? Elizabeth Tracey reports

Arm position matters when it comes to accurate blood pressure measurement, a Johns Hopkins study by Tammy Brady, a cardiovascular health promotion expert, shows. What about resting before a measurement is taken?

Brady: We also studied the impact of rest on blood pressure measurement accuracy in an earlier study. Do you need to rest for the full 5 minutes in the quiet room with nobody talking to you prior to a measurement or could we get away with two minutes rest or even just taking a measurement immediately after coming into the room. And what we found was that the blood pressure done immediately and after 2 minutes of rest were just as good as the ones resting after 5 minutes when your blood pressure was not hypertensive. However if your blood pressure was high you really needed to have that 5 minutes of rest.   :32

Brady says if your clinician isn’t giving you time to rest and your blood pressure is high, it’s a good idea to remind them to take it again when you’ve had a moment to settle down. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.