May 14, 2018 – Blood Pressure

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Anchor lead: Measuring blood pressure over 24 hours while someone is out and about may be the best way for many, Elizabeth Tracey reports

Blood pressure measurements are both more accurate and helpful when measured over 24 hours while someone is going about their daily activities, a very large study from Spain reported recently. Seth Martin, a cardiologist at Johns Hopkins, applauds the results.

Martin: This study focused on ambulatory blood pressures over 24 hours, and they found that these are a better predictor of events, of risk, that is the impact of their blood pressure on their health outcomes. So I think the next step is to look at blood pressures over time, over months, over years, and how that links to health outcomes. I would predict that we’re going to spend more of our attention adjusting therapy to those ambulatory blood pressures than we will to those clinically taken blood pressures in the future.  :31

Martin says the devices to do so-called ambulatory blood pressures are also smaller, more durable and accurate than ever, so such a strategy is also practical. He looks forward to the day when an app may be able to provide the same functions. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.