How do home blood pressure readings compare?
Several reports show a benefit to supplementing clinical blood pressure readings with home self-monitoring. Home readings can be helpful in evaluating symptoms, especially ones that aren’t chronic, that are suggestive of high blood pressure. Often these symptoms aren’t present during the few minutes of a typical physician office visit. In fact, when done correctly, home monitoring can actually save quite a bit in costs related to follow-up office visits. Because people typically feel less stressed taking BP at home, BP readings are typically lower than measurements taken in the traditional medical environment, even in persons with normal blood pressure. Also, routine home BP monitoring gives you an advantage when you undertake a blood pressure-lowering plan. This is primarily because you are paying close attention to the condition. I concur with many physicians who say an individual prognosis is better predicted by home readings than by one or two “casual” office BP measurements. One l
