"HOME BLOOD PRESSURE MONITORING REDUCES HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE AND IMPROVES CONTROL"

According to the new data presented at the World Congress of Cardiology, Home Blood Pressure Monitors could be really good news to all those who have taken the trouble to go out and buy themselves a home blood pressure monitor.  Here’s what they said: 

BEIJING, 19 JUNE 2010.  Home Blood Pressure Monitoring (HBPM) device reduces blood pressure and improves control according to according to new data presented today at the World Congress of Cardiology (WCC) Scientific Sessions in Beijing, China. 

A factorial randomized controlled clinical trial among adults undergoing drug treatment but with uncontrolled office blood pressure (≥140/90 mm Hg) and 24 hour ambulatory blood pressure monitoring – ABPM (≥130/80 mmHg) was carried out to determine the effect of HBPM on blood pressure control. The average of the delta for 24H systolic blood pressure differed between HBPM (8.8 ±12.9 mmHg) and control (3.4 ±11.6 mmHg) groups (p=0.018), as well as for 24h diastolic blood pressure (p=0.003). At the end of the trial 18.6 per cent of patients using HBPM compared with just 8.1 per cent of the control group had blood pressure <130/80 mmHg (p=0.08).

“Home Blood Press Monitoring devices have been used for a number of years to detect white-coat hypertension and to guide treatment decisions. Now we showed that they could improve therapeutic compliance” said Dr. Sandra C. Fuchs, Associate Professor of Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre, Porto Alegre, Brazil.  “This study set out to measure the effect of home blood pressure monitoring devices on lowering blood pressure.”

Participants with uncontrolled office blood pressure and 24 hour ambulatory blood pressure (≥130/80 mmHg) were randomly assigned to four different groups - HBPM (n=36), pharmacist care (n=35), HBPM and pharmacist care (n=32) or usual care (n=33).  Medication was not changed during the trial.  Blood pressure measurements were taken at 7 and 30 days after randomization, and at 60 days to assess the outcome.  This was a pooled analysis of the intervention (HBPM + HBPM with pharmacist care) versus control (pharmacist care + usual care).

(Source: World Heart Federation)