Taking Your Own Blood Pressure May Help Control It
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- How's your blood pressure?
A new study finds that monitoring your own blood pressure at home might help get it under control.
HealthPartners conducted the study with 450 patients. Half the group used "telemonitors," devices that allowed them to measure their own blood pressure six times a week and send the readings to a pharmacist. The other patients kept going to the doctor.
The results? Dr. Karen Margolis says 57 percent of the patients using telemonitors brought their blood pressure under control in 6 months, compared with 30 percent in the other group.
And those who measured at home kept it going.
"Seventy percent of the patients in the telemonitoring group kept their blood pressure control at 18 months -- six months after the program ended," Margolis said.
Taking Your Own Blood Pressure May Help Control It
It's encouraging news for dealing with one of the leading causes of death in the U.S. Nearly 1 in 3 American adults has high blood pressure.
