High blood pressure, sometimes no symptoms, be careful of heart disease!
As a common cardiovascular disease, hypertension has a long incubation period and mild symptoms, and has now become a major threat to modern people’s health. In recent years, paying attention to changes in blood pressure and implementing home monitoring have become new trends in health management. During the popular “618” e-commerce shopping carnival, electronic blood pressure monitors have quietly become a “star category”. Many consumers took this opportunity to buy related products for their homes, hoping to accurately measure blood pressure without leaving home, detect signs of disease in time, and avoid delays in the disease and serious consequences.
The “time bomb” lurking in the human body
Hypertension is a hidden disease with no symptoms or only mild and non-specific symptoms, which usually do not attract people’s attention. According to the data of the “Guidelines for the Prevention and Treatment of Hypertension in my country”, the awareness rate, treatment rate and control rate of hypertension in the Chinese population are 51.6%, 45.8% and 16.8% respectively, which means that nearly half of the people do not know their blood pressure status.
The scary thing is that if high blood pressure is discover late, intervened late, and delayed for a long time, it will cause greater damage to the body. Continuous high blood pressure will damage the heart, brain, kidneys, and aorta, and eventually lead to serious complications such as cerebral hemorrhage, heart failure, and kidney failure, which will seriously affect health and even life.
Clinically, there is no effective cure for hypertension, and the main purpose of treatment is to control blood pressure within the normal range to avoid complications. In this case, it is particularly necessary to monitor blood pressure regularly to detect any signs of abnormal blood pressure.
It is recommend to measure blood pressure at home in the morning and evening
At present, blood pressure monitoring is divide into office blood pressure measurement, dynamic blood pressure monitoring and home self-testing. Among them, home self-testing is easy to operate, widely used, and can avoid the white coat hypertension effect . It has become an important basis for patients to understand their daily condition and assist doctors in diagnosis.
The HOPE Asia Network Consensus states that a hypertension management approach centered on home blood pressure can be use for screening, diagnosis, and monitoring of antihypertensive treatment for hypertension. To accurately diagnose and identify individuals whose blood pressure is not under control, it is necessary to self-measure blood pressure using validated equipment and following standardized protocols, i.e., under consistent conditions, at specific times of the day, and while sitting and resting.
When measuring blood pressure at home, the 722 principle should be follow, that is, measure blood pressure continuously for 7 days, twice a day (morning and evening), and measure at least twice each time. The key point is that effective blood pressure monitoring equipment must be use.
Pay attention to five key points when measuring blood pressure accurately
1. Understand the measurement principle
At present, most electronic blood pressure monitors on the market use the oscillometric method. Which is also call the oscillation method. Its principle is to obtain the oscillation wave generated during the deflation process and convert it into the blood pressure value through a certain algorithm. The vast majority of electronic blood pressure monitors are design using the oscillometric principle.
2. Choose the measurement location
Blood pressure monitors can be divided into wrist, finger, upper arm, etc. The “Guidelines for the Prevention and Treatment of Hypertension in China in 2018” recommends that a scientifically validated upper arm electronic blood pressure monitor should be selected for measurement. Compared with other parts, the blood pressure value of the upper arm comes from the blood pressure of the brachial artery and this position is closer to the heart, so the numerical accuracy and repeatability are better. A paper published in the “Chinese Journal of Hypertension” in 2023 also showed that the blood pressure value measured at the elbow position is about 5 mmHg lower than the blood pressure value at the upper arm position. It is recommend to choose the upper arm position to measure blood pressure.
3. Pay attention to the scope of application
It is recommend that you choose a home blood pressure monitoring device with a wide range of applications. It can be use to accurately measure blood pressure in various symptoms such as atrial fibrillation, arrhythmia, hypotension, or for special groups such as pregnant women.
4. Suitable for elderly people to operate
The standardization, informatization and intelligence of home blood pressure monitoring are the focus of current consumer attention. Elderly hypertensive patients and their families are advised to choose devices that are easy to operate, simple and easy to read, and suitable for the elderly, such as voice broadcast data, automatic volume adjustment, screen font enlargement, automatic data transmission, etc., which can meet the needs of groups with limited mobility, decreased vision, and poor ability to use smart devices.
5. Be alert to subtle changes
Irregular pulse may be one of the manifestations of decreased heart function. If you find that your pulse is “beating and stopping”, you should suspect the possibility of atrial fibrillation and go to the hospital for an electrocardiogram to confirm the diagnosis.
It can be seen that when choosing a home blood pressure monitoring device, you must consider both accuracy and convenience. For smart products such as electronic blood pressure monitors, good technology, high configuration, and humanized design can achieve accurate measurement, making blood pressure measurement simple and daily.
The elderly are the main group suffering from hypertension. The integration of smart technology makes the Ubicon digital blood pressure monitor more suitable for the elderly. The 4.5-inch LCD high-definition soft light large screen digital display clearly divides the high and low pressure pulses, and the daytime and night vision are clear at a glance. The whole process is support by intelligent voice, so the elderly with poor eyesight can also measure their blood pressure by themselves.
In addition, even when used in special circumstances such as atrial fibrillation, arrhythmia, hypotension, etc., it can measure blood pressure stably. At the same time, it can intelligently sense the regularity of the pulse and immediately issue a reminder if there is any abnormality, allowing people to use it with peace of mind. It can be say to be a “good helper” for measuring blood pressure at home.
In the long run, home blood pressure monitoring can significantly reduce the risk of myocardial infarction and stroke in patients with hypertension, thereby saving medical expenses. Therefore, regardless of whether or not you have hypertension, it is recommend that every family always have a Korotkoff sound electronic blood pressure monitor and do regular monitoring. If the average blood pressure is greater than or equal to 140/90 mmHg, it is recommend to seek medical attention in a timely manner to clarify the diagnosis and intervene as soon as possible.
