Blood Pressure ?

[Alan]

This is probably best answered by Ted:

If we take 2 readings close together (within 30 minutes) and we want
to plot the 'ideal BP', then should we just throw out the higher of
the two readings? I read something to this effect for best practices,
but I was seeking an opinion.

Best,

Alan

[Mark Scrimshire]

Wouldn't the best answer be to do an average of the two readings.

Throwing out the higher reading under states a potential trend.

[Ted]

Here's the official statement from the American Heart Association, I
have also added it to the wikipage to help people:

There is some agreement that correlations with ambulatory BP are more
reliable if the first day’s home BP readings are discarded.52,53 Two
recent analyses have recommended tak- ing between 8 and 15 readings in
total,53,54 and we recom- mend following the last set of European
Society of Hyper- tension guidelines to take ô °€2 morning and 2
evening readings every day for 1 week16 but to discard the readings of
the first day, which gives a total of 12 readings on which to make
clinical decisions. Getting multiple readings is partic- ularly
important for the initial diagnosis of hypertension, but the same
procedure is also recommended to be performed at intervals in patients
whose condition is thought to be stable and who require long-term
follow-up. Patients should be instructed to record all the readings
that they take.

I would interpret this to mean that any readings taken in the target
time zones should be included in the average, because it says greater
than equal to 2 in the am, greater than equal to 2 in the PM (AHA says
1 in the morning and 1 in the evening is fine too). My interpretation
of this is that it's okay to take multiple readings (if a person has
the time and interest, they don't really have to), the key thing is to
do it during the time of day when it is most likely to reflect what
your heart is seeing for most of the day, which is early morning and
evening, not middle of the day, not at work.

Remember that they should be taken 5 minutes apart to allow the body
to recover from the measurement process. And, if someone is already on
medication, they should check before they take their medication, not
after.

Regards,

Ted