Self-monitoring of blood pressure promotes achievement of blood pressure target in primary health care.

BACKGROUND: The majority of hypertensive patients do not reach the target blood pressure (BP). We sought to clarify whether intermittent self-monitoring of BP leads to better BP control compared to ordinary treatment in general practice. METHODS: Two hundred sixty-nine hypertensive patients participated in this multicenter, randomized, parallel-group study in primary health care. Home BP was measured in the self-monitoring (SM) group at 0, 2, 4, and 6 months, and in the control (C) group at 0 and 6 months. The participating physicians were instructed to intensify the antihypertensive therapy when needed. RESULTS: At the beginning, both groups had similar home BP levels (SM 143.1 +/- 17.4/85.3 +/- 7.4 mm Hg v C 143.9 +/- 18.3/85.4 +/- 7.5 mm Hg). After 6 months, there were significant decreases in systolic (P

Epistemonikos ID: 65fd959b075597650426d4f568d6302f1c5da428
First added on: Jun 08, 2011