Patients' perceptions of changes in their blood pressure

Abstract

Objectives: (1) To investigate patients' experience of changes in their blood pressure (BP) in an every day setting and the accuracy of patients' predictions; and (2) to examine what influences patients' belief that they can tell when their BP is up. Subjects: A total of 102 hypertensive patients were recruited sequentially as they presented for routine BP checks. The setting was an inner city general practice. Design: Patients attended for BP checks on a weekly basis. Before each check they were asked whether they thought their BP was higher, lower or the same as usual. Subjects were classified as predictors if they thought they could tell when their BP was up. On completing their series of..