More and more experts now recommend that people with high blood pressure regularly check their blood pressure at home. Doing this gives people an idea where their blood pressure stands in between office visits, and can motivate them to care more about their health. It also helps doctors make quick medication adjustments to keep blood pressure in the healthy zone.
Because many doctors do rely at least in part on home measurements to guide treatment, such inaccuracies could end with some people taking too much or too little blood pressure medication. “We are going down that road of asking people to measure their pressures at home
people with kidney disease were asked to bring their home blood pressure monitoring equipment to the kidney clinic at Ottawa Hospital to have it checked for accuracy against a standard office device.
The fact that blood pressure measurements vary is no surprise. Blood pressure wanders all over the map throughout the day. It’s generally lowest first thing in the morning, after a person wakes up, and then steadily rises. Blood pressure responds dynamically to movements, meals, and moods.