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Self blood pressure measurement: a promising procedure but some issues remain unanswered

Journal of Human Hypertension volume 21, pages 697–698 (2007)Cite this article

In the current issue of the Journal of Human Hypertension, McManus et al.1 assess the frequency of self blood pressure measurement (SBPM) made by or to patients of four general practitioners in Birmingham. An originality of this study was to address BP measurement “without the involvement of a doctor or a nurse”. Nine per cent of the participants reported SBPM and half of them considered using SBPM in the future. The authors considered these findings encouraging because “… self testing has the potential to improve the detection and treatment of [high] BP”, keeping in mind that “this will only be possible if professionals are aware of it”.1 This paper indirectly raises the distinct issues of the benefits and the pitfalls of SBPM and the relevance of BP measurement performed without the involvement of health professionals.

The ultimate purpose of BP assessment is to obtain valid information on BP level to guide clinical or public health decision. BP measurement has been traditionally performed by trained health professionals in medical settings. However, SBPM, also called ‘home BP monitoring’, is gaining wide interest.2, 3 Of note, BP readings differ whether measured by a physician or other heath professionals (clinical BP measurement (CBPM)), the patients themselves (SBPM) or through readings performed automatically out of the office (ambulatory BP measurement (ABPM)). BP are higher when readings are gathered at the physician's office as compared to SBPM or ABPM, which partly relates to the so-called ‘white coat effect’4, 5, 6 and to the decrease of BP with repeated measurements.7, 8 Moreover, ABPM and SBPM have better reproducibility than CBPM,9, 10, 11 partly because the former rely on more measurements and because they may have greater validity than CBPM.12

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References

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  1. Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine (IUMSP), Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois and University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland

    A Chiolero & P Bovet

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  1. A Chiolero
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  2. P Bovet
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Correspondence to A Chiolero.

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Chiolero, A., Bovet, P. Self blood pressure measurement: a promising procedure but some issues remain unanswered. J Hum Hypertens 21, 697–698 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.jhh.1002218

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