Hypertension/Blood Pressure

Hypertension/Blood Pressure
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Introduction
In the past decade, medical officers and researchers have realized and recognized that hypertension is one of the ill health conditions which record the highest rates of mortality and is also a major cause of disability in the world. This is in spite of the fact that medical researchers have been able to bring in new and modernized methods of assessing and controlling blood pressure (BP). In actual fact, some of these methods are ineffective in the sense that they lead to diverse results which hamper effective decision-making regarding the treatment to be administered on the patients. Dissimilar medical practitioners in various countries apply different techniques with regard to assessing and controlling BP, proving that notwithstanding being used, most of these techniques are not accurate and may not be effective in providing their results to the physicians. For instance, techniques that do not effectively take into account factors such as arm position, body position, cuff size, inter-arm differences and cuff placement could lead to significantly different readings. Inaccurate measurement of blood pressure could result in misclassification of patients as hypertensive or normotensive as well as lead to inapt medical management.
Nonetheless, the methods of assessing and controlling BP should not be blamed for ineffectual control of hypertension particularly in Western nations. Other risk factors including body fitness and lifestyle influence the response to the treatment administered, and different people typically respond differently to treatment, for instance, exercising works well for some people while to some it does not. Therefore, physicians should not seek to make decisions on treatment solely on the evaluation results of the BP. They need to study a patient first prior to recommending the best mode of treatment. Some of the key varied techniques employed in controlling and assessing blood pressure include exercise training, preventive advise, using the right procedure and devices in measuring BP, as well as self-monitoring and adherence to treatment on the part of the patient. These techniques are important because they could lead to improved adherence to medication and BP control. In addition, they would most likely result to better management of hypertension and improved health outcome for the patient. The purpose of this paper is to discuss how the varied techniques of controlling and assessing blood pressure affect the treatment of hypertension.
Techniques for controlling and assessing Blood Pressure (BP) and their effects on hypertension treatment
Calhoun et al (2008, p. 4) stated that presently, hypertension affects 1 out of 6 people in the United States, and costs roughly $45.7 billion every year. Effective control of BP among patients who are hypertensive plays a vital role in decreasing the lifetime risk of stroke, myoca...