A controversial new study looking at Mayo Clinic patients was recently published that challenges what most people- including doctors- understand about when and how to have blood pressure measured.
This could mean that millions of people were unnecessarily put on dangerous blood pressure medications, when in fact their blood pressure was completely healthy.
Researchers at the Mayo Clinic looked at medical histories of over 400 patients and found that having blood pressure taken every time a patient sees the doctor may cause more damage than checking only once per year.
The reasons they cited for the potential errors in over-diagnosis due to false positives included that the staff were not following proper testing procedures, and the effects of “white coat syndrome.” This happens when blood pressure is temporarily elevated due to anxiety over simply having a doctor visit.
The researchers concluded, after studying the charts, that taking a patient’s blood pressure once per year (and then doing it properly) at the annual exam would eliminate the vast majority of false positives.
By extension, this would eliminate unnecessary follow-up tests or drug regimens.
Critics looking at the study results say that the 7% error in finding actual hypertensive patients by screening only once per year is too big of an error margin and more frequent testing should always be the safer route.
The battle underscores the need for frequent and properly conducted at-home screening. There is a growing body of evidence to suggest that home meters, when used at the recommended 3-times-per-day interval and in the proper way are a much more accurate gauge of how a patient is faring than measuring blood pressure in the stressful area of a doctor’s office.
The proper way includes making sure the person being tested is seated, has been at rest for at least 5 minutes prior to the test, and the testing arm is supported. Both sides of the controversial study agree that this is not being done in the doctor’s office, which accounts for many of the errors.
Repeated studies are also revealing that natural methods are always the best to lower blood pressure.
The most effective natural methods to lower blood pressure are 3 easy exercises that have been proven to lower blood pressure to a healthy level in as little as 9 minutes.
Learn more about these exercises and test-drive them online here…
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