GHP September 2015

ghp September 2015 | 23 ules. At the moment, research shows that only 8% of all patients with hypertension are completely con- trolled. Most patients do not realize that hypertension is a “silent killer” with no symptoms to remind them of the need for continuous treatment until the swift strike of a stroke or other devastating complication. Good communication between the physician and the patient lies at the core of the successful manage- ment of hypertension. Good information about blood pressure and high blood pressure, about risks and prognosis, about the expected benefits of treatment and about the risks and side effects of treatment is es- sential for satisfactory life long control of hypertension. So what is your blood pressure, really? Important Information: Many doctors use rounded figures for blood pressure and will use the number 120/80 for any value considered as being in the normal range, so instead of telling you that your blood pressure is 134 over 76, he will quite often just tell you that you are 120 over 80. Blood pressure is the measure of the force that the blood exerts on the inside walls of your arteries. Blood pressure is expressed as a ratio (ex 120/80). The first number is called the systolic pressure, and is the pressure in the heart when it is beating. The second number is the diastolic pressure, and is the pressure in the heart when it is resting (between beats). Blood pressure is historically expressed in mmHg, or millimetres of mercury, even though there is no longer any mercury used in electronic devices. It is interest- ing to note that in most French speaking countries, blood pressure is expressed cmHg, or centimetres of mercury, which means that the doctor would express your blood pressure as 12/8 (twelve over eight) instead of 120/80. Averaging of results It is also interesting to note that most doctors use rounded figures for blood pressure and will use the number 120/80 for any value considered as being in the normal range, so instead of telling you that your blood pressure is 134 over 76, he will quite often just tell you that you are 120 over 80. One could almost say that 120/80 is a generic number for normal blood pressure. We have noticed over the years that this is often a cause of complaints from patients who do not understand that the doctor is using this number (120/80) as a reference only. Over the past 15 years, we have received hundreds of letters from patients telling us that they think that their device is inaccu- rate. An example is Patient X who states that she would like a refund on her blood pressure monitor because “it is giving me a result of 133 over 84 and my doctor told me that I was 120 over 80”. In fact the result of 133/84 of Patient X is much more accurate than the doctor’s estimation, but it is of no medical consequence because both results are perfectly normal. In this case, the doctor of Patient X just gave her the “generic” figure for a normal blood pressure, which is 120/80. When the blood pressure is measured, it should ideally fall within a specific range. Knowledge of this range and of your blood pressure should allow you to better manage your health. This is the blood pressure classification chart for adults set by the World Health Organization: * Ranges may be lower for children and teenagers. Talk to your child’s doctor if you’re concerned your child has high blood pressure. ** These recommendations address high blood pres- sure as a single health condition. If you also have heart disease, diabetes, chronic kidney disease or certain other conditions, you’ll need to treat your blood pressure more aggressively. In general, it is better to have a lower blood pres- sure than a high one. With high blood pressure, the heart works harder, your arteries get damaged and your chances of a stroke, heart attack, or kidney problems are greater. Blood pressure fluctuates greatly in the course of a day. Many factors, such as exercise, conversation, alcohol, stress, movement, food or smoking can cause your blood pressure to rise and fall temporarily. This is why it is important to always measure and record your blood pressure at the same time and under the same conditions every day and to be completely relaxed when you measure your blood pressure. And how do connected blood pressure monitors help? In 2009, iHealth had the idea of connecting blood pressure monitors to a smartphone (originally Apple, but now the products are also available in Android). This today seems like an obvious thing to do, and indeed, for Uwe DIEGEL, CEO of iHealthLabs Europe, the company responsible for the sudden epidemic of connected devices, this is the case. “I have never really considered that connected devices were an invention. I was making blood pressure monitors, and I simply added the connection. For me connected health has always been a natural evolution of technol- ogy”, says Diegel. The one thing that connected blood pressure mon- itors do, is to bring better comprehension about the disease to the end-users. The smartphone makes it easier for the end-user to track, manage and share his vital data, because the results are displayed in easy to understand displays (everybody understands that green is good, yellow less god and red is dangerous) and allow the user to follow the evolution of blood pressure over time. research and development