Home Pressure Readings May Be Better

Blood pressure measured at home may show more about your health than readings taken in your doctor’s office, a study finds. The study included 436 people who had long-term (chronic) kidney disease. They were not on dialysis, however. People’s blood pressure was measured several times during 2 days at a clinic. Then they were sent home for 24 hours with a device that took their blood pressure automatically. It recorded pressure every 15 minutes during the day and every 30 minutes at night. Researchers kept track of people for about 4 years. In this time, 86 developed kidney failure and 69 died. There were also 63 heart attacks or related events, and 52 people died from these events. These health problems and deaths were more likely to occur in people who had high blood pressure readings at home.