[Why and how should the patient perform a correct home blood pressure measurement?].
Home blood pressure (BP) measurement is a medical prescription. The interpretation of the results must be left to the physician. This method is complementary to the classical office BP measurement and the 24 hour ambulatory blood pressure measurement. It must be proposed to some selected patients on the basis of their capacity of learning and understanding the place of the technique for the diagnosis and the treatment compliance. It allows a more active contribution of the patient to the management of her chronic disease and, this, may improve the prevention of cardiovascular complication. A normal blood pressure during self BP measurement is equal or lower to 135/85 mmHg or even lower in high cardiovascular risk patients. This new technique, already largely used by patients, needs adequate education and good advice for buying a validated device.
Krzesinski
F
F
Université de Liège, Belgique.
Krzesinski
J M
JM
D018660:Blood Pressure Monitoring, Ambulatory / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000517:prevention & control; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000628:therapy; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012648:Self Care