Accurate blood pressure measurement is harder than it seems, Elizabeth Tracey reports

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One of the most important things you can do to prevent the number one cause of death – cardiovascular disease – is to keep your blood pressure under control, and that starts with measuring it. Tammy Brady, a cardiovascular health promotion expert at Johns Hopkins, has just published a study showing that arm position is critical to getting an accurate blood pressure measurement.

Brady: Accurate blood pressure measurement is essential to diagnose and treat hypertension and it's really key to our efforts in prevention of cardiovascular disease. I think what many people take for granted is that there are really key patient preparatory steps and positions that are recommended in the guidelines, because evidence has shown that suboptimal adherence to those guidelines can lead to significant measurement error. :26

Brady’s study found that poor arm position can produce a higher result than would be seen otherwise, likely triggering a prescription for medicines to combat high blood pressure. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.