Does Your Doctor Use Automated Office Blood Pressure Readings? 

High blood pressure is linked to heart attacks

I’ve never heard of regular physician offices measuring blood pressure like this  meta-analysis describes. It may be the standard of care in the future if the automated device is affordable.

“Key Points

Question

Should automated office blood pressure (recording several blood pressure readings using a fully automated oscillometric sphygmomanometer with the patient resting alone in a quiet place) measurement replace readings recorded by nurses and physicians in routine clinical practice?

Findings

This systematic review and meta-analysis of 31 articles comprising 9279 participants compared automated office blood pressure with awake ambulatory blood pressure, a standard for predicting cardiovascular risk. Mean automated office blood pressure readings were similar to the awake ambulatory blood pressure readings and did not exhibit the “white coat effect” associated with routine office blood pressure measurement.

Meanings

Automated office blood pressure measurement should replace the recording of blood pressure by nurses and physicians in routine clinical practice.”

Source: Comparing Automated Office Blood Pressure Readings With Other Methods of Blood Pressure Measurement for Identifying Patients With Possible Hypertension: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis | JAMA Internal Medicine | JAMA Network