There is strong evidence that conducting blood pressure screenings outside of the primary care physician’s office can detect hypertension earlier and save lives. This is an especially powerful tool among the elderly population since these are the individuals at the highest risk of dying from high blood pressure and other forms of cardiovascular disease. Heart attacks, stroke, and other diseases impact the older parts of our society the heaviest, and by finding a problem earlier than normal, treatment steps can be taken sooner.
It’s an easy thing to see why this would be. More testing means that more chances for detection are established. Because many people only visit the doctor for their yearly physical or when they are ill, getting frequent blood pressure readings can be difficult, and this means that if a problem arises, it could be months before anything is done about it. And by then, it might be too late to be helpful. Increased testing, then, is a good thing just based upon sheer statistical probability. But once you throw human lives into the mix–the lives of people that we have loved our entire lives–the impact becomes much bigger.
This wasn’t a clinical trial, but rather the records of over 1 million people were looked at over the course of two years. Blood pressure was one of the things looked at in both a medical and non-primary care setting. Over the two years, about 112,000 people developed high blood pressure. 83 percent were diagnosed in a medical setting, and the remaining 17 percent were diagnosed in a non-primary care setting. It was ensured that those taking the readings were professionally certified in how to do so correctly in order to better guarantee accuracy. Non-primary care settings that were cited included optometrist offices, urologists, and orthopaedic surgery offices. These are all locations that the elderly are more likely to visit than younger people, which has also increased the usefulness of having additional screenings. For those that avoid going to the doctor regularly, this can be an effective way to detect issues early on.
About 1 in 3 adults have higher than normal blood pressure. The majority of these are older and male, meaning that senior citizens, especially men, are at a higher risk of hypertension and the related diseases, than others. When senior care is being established, this is an important thing to remember. If you are considering in-home care, make sure that the caregiver is trained to take a reading with a blood pressure cuff and that measurements are taken once in a while. If a problem does occur while your loved one is receiving care, the problem can be addressed earlier, and their quality of life can be preserved. This is an easy way to make sure that older family members are kept as healthy as possible during their senior years. Remember, high blood pressure contributes to heart disease and stroke, and these are two of the biggest killers in the United States right now. By taking preventative measures like this, you can save your loved one’s life, potentially.
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