Over a half of stroke patients require a degree of help with taking medicine and a sizeable minority say they do not receive as much assistance as they need, according a study published today in the journal BMJ Open. Because of the risk of a second stroke, it’s important that stroke survivors take their medication, […]
Home-based blood pressure monitoring should be commonplace in NHS, say researchers
General Practitioners should encourage patients with hypertension to monitor their blood pressure at home and use those readings in their day-to-day care, recommend a team of experts writing in The Lancet. From the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge and Birmingham, the researchers report on a trial showing that when GPs base their medication adjustments on regular […]
Stroke survivors and caregivers feel abandoned by health services, study finds
A systematic review of studies focused on stroke survivors’ and carers’ experiences of primary care and community healthcare services has found that they feel abandoned because they have become marginalised by services and do not have the knowledge or skills to re-engage. The study, by researchers at the Primary Care Unit’s Cardiovascular Group, suggests that […]
New US blood-pressure guidelines — who asked the patients?
New clinical guidelines on hypertension from the USA include a new definition for hypertension, as well as lower treatment targets and extended guidance on the implementation of multidisciplinary care, including self-monitoring of blood pressure. The reclassifying of hypertension will increase the proportion of the US adult population labelled as having hypertension from 32% to 46%, […]
Home blood pressure monitoring for hypertension works best when combined with intensive support
People who monitor their own blood pressure at home are most likely to see a benefit if they combine it with individually tailored intensive support, according to a new systematic literature review and meta-analysis published this week in PLOS Medicine by an international group led by Oxford University researchers, with contributions from Professor Jonathan Mant […]