FACTORS INFLUENCING THE ACCURACY OF HOME BLOOD-PRESSURE MEASUREMENT

Background. Hypertension is a common disorder, affecting approximately 50 million Americans. Because many people have this disorder and its sequela, it is important not only to detect hypertension but also to m onitor adequacy of control. Over the past few)rears, blood pressure mo nitoring devices (BPMDs) have become available for individuals to meas ure their blood pressure (BP) in the convenience of their-home. These instruments are touted as being accurate. Methods, We conducted a stud y with volunteers who use BPMDs to see how they are used and to assess their accuracy A BP reading was considered accurate if the difference s between the volunteers' and technicians' systolic and diastolic read ings were both 10 mm Hg or less. Results, Of 91 patients, 31 (34%) obt ained inaccurate readings. The inaccuracy could not be attributed to t he type of the instrument, the cost of the instrument, the educational level of the user, or the age of the instrument. Conclusions. This st udy shows, despite other studies purporting accuracy, that a significa nt number of inaccurate readings are obtained by patients using BPMDs. Supervision of their use needs to be incorporated into the physician follow-up to ensure that there is a reasonable correlation between val ues obtained using the mercury sphygmomanometer and the BPMD.