Home blood pressure monitors could save your life!

A recent US study that was recently reported on by Boots WebMD found that patients with high blood pressure who monitored their blood pressure using portable devices at home managed to lower their blood pressure more effectively than patients who did not have monitors at home.

Both groups were given usual care - educational information about lifestyle changes they could make to lower their blood pressure, and follow-up care from their GP. One group was also given home monitors and taught how to use them to take readings at least three times a week, and upload their readings using the online programme.

After six months the researchers compared how much people’s blood pressure had improved.

After six months, more people in the home monitoring group had lowered their blood pressure to less than 140/90 mmHg. Around 54 in 100 people in the home monitoring group had a blood pressure below this, compared with around 35 in 100 in the usual care group.

Some 58 in 100 people in the home monitoring group were very or completely satisfied with their treatment, compared with 42 in 100 in the usual care group.

It seemed that having complete control and an insight into the changes that are happening on a day-to-day basis, gave the group with the portable devices the incentive to stick to the lifestyle changes that would lower their blood pressure.

High blood pressure can cause a multitude of serious and sometimes fatal health conditions and many people do not even know they have it until it is too late. It is important to get your doctor to check your blood pressure on a regular basis, but as this study shows, monitoring it yourself at home could make a huge difference to your health.

The iHealth BP5 bloodpressure monitor is based on the iOS operating system and Bluetooth technology, it allows you to test, track and share your blood pressure results wirelessly with your iPod touch, iPhone or iPad. iHealth BP5 works with a Free App to test, track, graph and share your blood pressure results The whole testing process is amazingly intuitive- you can watch your pulse wave in a vivid interface and your results are recorded automatically. Using a minimal amount of storage space on your device. You can classify your historical results and obtain the average, to identify your blood pressure's trend and to examine the effectiveness of any medicine. You can even send your results instantly to your family or healthcare provider by E-mail, Facebook or Twitter to keep them informed of your health condition.