Measuring blood pressure correctly is extremely important for the correct diagnosis and treatment of hypertension. However, failing to follow even a few simple rules during measurement can cause significant errors. First of all, the measuring device must be accurate. Once we know our device measures accurately, these are some important points to pay attention to during measurement:
- The arm on which blood pressure is measured should be supported to prevent the muscles from contracting.
- Holding the arm below or above heart level will cause blood pressure to be measured lower or higher than it really is, so the measurement should be taken after the arm is brought to heart level.
- When blood pressure is measured for the first time in a clinic, it should be measured on both arms; in repeated measurements, whichever arm gives the higher reading should be used for later measurements. Home measurements should be followed up on the same arm.
- The cuff of the device (the part that wraps around the arm) should be the right size for the patient.
- Once blood pressure has been measured correctly, the value obtained should be recorded.
For a diagnosis of hypertension, exceeding the limit values in a single measurement is not enough. Especially in measurements taken by doctors and nurses in healthcare facilities, high values that do not reflect the patient’s true blood pressure may be recorded. In medical terms, this is called white coat hypertension. When planning treatment, many reliable measurements taken at home are more valuable than those taken in a hospital or doctor’s office. For the blood pumped by the heart to reach the organs in our body, there must be a certain pressure inside the blood vessels. This pressure is kept within certain limits by all of the body’s systems. It is usually fairly stable in people and does not change much.
