Effectiveness of measuring blood pressure at home

Abstract EN

Objective: To assess the effectiveness of measuring blood pressure at home for the management of hypertension. Methods: This study was conducted at the Royal Jordanian Air Force Medical Center, on patients visiting the family practice clinics, during the period March 2001-March 2002.

A total of 4800 patients visited the clinics, but only 62 cases were studied to determine the effectiveness of advising patients to measure their blood pressure at home, for diagnosis and follow up of hypertension. Results: A total of 62 patients, aged between 40-60 years were diagnosed to have hypertension at the clinic.

The mean age was 51.2 years, whereas 47(75.8%) were males and 15(24.2%) were females.

About 55 patients (88.7%) were newly diagnosed hypertension , and 7 patients (11.3%) were cases with discordance in blood pressure readings (white coat hypertension). Conclusions: Blood pressure measured at home is a good predictor in the management of hypertension.