Home Blood Pressure Measurement

Hypertension, the leading global risk factor for early mortality, cannot be detected or treated without accurate and practical methods of blood pressure (BP) measurement. Although home BP measurement has considerable popularity among patients, the lack of evidence needed to assure its place in modern clinical practice has hindered its widespread acceptance among physicians. This paper demonstrates that home BP measurement is more accurate than conventional clinic and ambulatory monitoring BP measurement and can be used effectively in clinical practice. On the basis of the data from different studies, it can be concluded that home BP measurement is an improvement over conventional clinic BP measurement. Home monitoring of BP is a convenient, accurate, and widely available option and may become the method of choice when diagnosing and treating hypertension. A paradigm shift is needed in BP measurement as evidence-based medicine suggests that clinic BP measurement should only be used for screening purposes.