Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute (formerly Group Health Research Institute) is undertaking an important study about how we diagnosis hypertension. It’s well known that on a medical visit that blood pressure readings are generally lower after the visit than before. So how do we really know what really happens to the blood pressure 24/7? Click here for the full article.
“New PCORI study paves the way
Enter BP-CHECK, a new KPWHRI study that launched recently thanks to a $2.8 million award from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI). Led by Dr. Green—a nationally recognized leader in hypertension research—the BP-CHECK study has set out to find the easiest, most accurate way to diagnose high blood pressure.
Later this month the study will begin enrolling more than 500 patients from Kaiser Permanente Washington in a randomized trial comparing three different methods of measuring blood pressure:
- in clinic;
- at home using a personal blood pressure monitor; and
- at validated kiosks found in many drugstores.
The study will also compare each method to a 24-hour blood pressure test that the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recently named the new “gold standard” for diagnosing hypertension. That test takes repeated measurements while patients are at home, wearing a portable blood pressure monitor and arm cuff that inflates every half-hour during the day and every hour at night.”