BMJ  2005;330:148 (15 January), doi:10.1136/bmj.330.7483.148-b

Letter

Self monitoring of blood pressure at home

Primary care professionals remain sceptical

The first 100% of the full text of this article appears below.

EDITOR—The review by Stergiou et al of home blood pressure monitoring sets out recommendations that are similar to those published some years ago as a result of reviewing the literature and a study confirming the feasibility and acceptability of the procedure.^1-3

The problem is not in deciding what should be done but in getting recommendations implemented. Primary care, where most British patients with high blood pressure are managed exclusively, remains sceptical about this procedure, although the use of semiautomatic devices is now commonplace. Now, in my dotage, I am on the receiving end of the sphygmomanometer, and I sadly find that my carers are only interested in isolated office readings.

Bath BA2 5EJ Malcolm.aylett@smrl.demon.co.uk

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Competing interests: None declared.

1. Stergiou G, Megden T, Padfield PL, Parati G, O'Brien E, Working Group on Blood Pressure Monitoring of the European Society of Hypertension. Self monitoring of blood pressure at home. BMJ 2004;329: 870-1. (16 October.)[Free Full Text]
2. Aylett M. Pressure for change: unresolved issues in blood pressure measurement. Br J Gen Pract 1999;49: 136-9.[Web of Science][Medline]
3. Aylett MJ. The use of home blood pressure measurements to diagnose white coat hypertension in general practice. J Hum Hypertens 1996;10: 17-20.[Web of Science][Medline]

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Relevant Article

Self monitoring of blood pressure at home

George Stergiou, Thomas Mengden, Paul L Padfield, Gianfranco Parati, Eoin O'Brien working group on blood pressure monitoring of the European Society of Hypertension
BMJ 2004 329: 870-871. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

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