Too much trust in electronic blood pressure monitors: Beware of stroke

Using blood pressure monitors to control blood pressure at home is now quite popular from urban to rural areas.

Most people use electronic blood pressure monitors to check their blood pressure at home. Using blood pressure monitors to check blood pressure at home is quite popular from urban to rural areas. Most people use electronic blood pressure monitors to check their blood pressure at home, very few people use mercury blood pressure monitors.

The main reason is because the electronic blood pressure monitor is easy to use, does not require too complicated techniques and does not need a second person to support. However, there are many people who measure incorrectly but trust the results too much, leading to unpredictable accidents.

Whether measuring blood pressure on the upper arm or wrist, make sure the cuff is level with the heart.

Using a blood pressure monitor to control blood pressure electronically (home medical equipment) at home is now quite popular from urban to rural areas. This is a method that experts encourage to apply, especially for people with high blood pressure. However, there are many people who measure incorrectly but trust the results too much, leading to unpredictable complications.

Typical case

Ms. Le Thi T. in Ninh Binh, 61 years old, recently had tinnitus, red face, and sometimes nausea. She went to the doctor and was diagnosed with high blood pressure and given medication, with an appointment for a follow-up visit in 1 month. When she got home, she went to a medical equipment store and bought herself an electronic blood pressure monitor because, according to the seller's recommendation, this device was easy to use and the results were accurate. In the first few days, she took the medicine regularly and measured her blood pressure once a day in the morning. The systolic and diastolic readings were normal. She was very reassured. The first month passed smoothly. Ms. T. believed that she knew how to control her illness well. In the second month, the doctor still prescribed her blood pressure medication. At home, she still measured her blood pressure once a day, but when she saw that her blood pressure was stable, she was afraid that taking the medication would have side effects, so she stopped taking it on her own. Just a few days later, she had to go to the emergency room due to a stroke because her blood pressure was too high and uncontrolled. Fortunately, after a period of intensive treatment, the consequences of the disease were not many. According to the doctor's explanation, the reason why Ms. T. had a stroke was because she measured her blood pressure incorrectly, the machine gave an incorrect result but she trusted it too much, stopped taking her medication, leading to the stroke.

How to fix?

Time and number of times to measure: Prof. Dr. Nguyen Van Thong advises patients to measure blood pressure at home in the morning when they just wake up. Avoid measuring when they have just climbed stairs, exercised, walked, just eaten, or are too hungry, too tired... because blood pressure at that time can be higher or lower than the true number. It is necessary to measure 3 times in a row, 5 minutes apart, then take the average index for at least three consecutive days to conclude whether blood pressure is high or not. Both arms should be measured, the side with the higher measurement should be taken as the official result. In addition, patients need to record the results of each measurement in a notebook to control, avoid remembering, forgetting, and being inaccurate.

Measurement location:When using an electronic measuring device, the patient can measure on the upper arm or wrist, but the upper arm measuring device is usually more accurate because when measuring on the wrist, the arm is difficult to keep still during the measurement. For the upper arm measuring device, the arm can be placed supine on the table with the sensor point 3cm above the elbow crease. For the wrist measuring device, the arm must be bent at an angle of about 45 degrees. It should be noted that in both methods of measurement, the sensor point in the arm cuff must be placed horizontally with the heart.

Measurement position: when measuring blood pressure, the patient must be in a relaxed state, sitting comfortably on a chair with a backrest, hands placed on the table at heart level, feet touching the ground, legs straight, not crossed. Before measuring, you should urinate because a full bladder can also cause systolic blood pressure to increase by 10-15mmHg. While measuring, you should not talk or eat or drink because it can easily increase blood pressure.

Measuring device: need to ensure the meter has enough power to operate, it is best to change the battery before measuring. Do not leave the meter at too hot a temperature because it can cause a deviation of 1 - 2 units. The room temperature when measuring also needs to be at a normal level, not too cold to cause blood vessels to constrict, causing temporary increase in blood pressure. The arm wrap must be of moderate length because if it is too small compared to the arm, it will increase blood pressure (can be up to tens of mmHg), and too large a bandage will give a lower index. Once a year, the patient should bring the meter to the doctor or nurse to check if the machine is still working properly.

Currently, there are two popular types of home blood pressure monitors: electronic blood pressure monitors and manual blood pressure monitors (more difficult to use because they require the person measuring to know how to count the heart rate, so they are less commonly used). Each type of measuring device has its own characteristics, but the general requirements regarding posture, time, number of measurements, etc. must be strictly followed by the patient. In addition, patients should not be too trusting or dependent on self-measured blood pressure readings without re-examining or stopping treatment because it can easily lead to unfortunate accidents.

Most common mistakes

Prof. Dr. Nguyen Van Thong - Chairman of the Vietnam Stroke Association said that when measuring blood pressure at home, the cause of incorrect results is often due to the patient only measuring once, placing the sensor point in the armband in the wrong position, measuring while talking or forgetting to record the measured indexes for control. In addition, incorrect blood pressure indexes are also due to the device such as the machine running out of battery, the machine being stored at an inappropriate temperature.../.

According to Health & Life