Home blood pressure monitoring may find hidden risk

By Shereen Jegtvig NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - People with normal blood pressure at the doctor's office but high blood pressure at other times may have a doubled risk of heart attacks and strokes, according to new research reviews. In two analyses covering four industrialized countries and more than 5,000 people, researchers also found that home blood pressure monitoring frequently picks up that so-called masked hypertension. If that leads to more people with hidden high blood pressure getting treatment, it would be affordable and worthwhile to expand home monitoring, they say. "We know that a lot of cardiovascular complications occur in people who are normotensive if you measure the blood pressure in the regular way in the office," Dr. Jan Staessen told Reuters Health in an email.



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