Checking blood pressure Maybe it’s the thought of seeing your GP’s frown as he or she checks the blood pressure monitor. Maybe it’s because next month’s appointment gives you a goal to work towards. Whatever the reason, regular and frequent visits to see a doctor has been shown to help diabetics reach normal blood pressure levels much faster than those who don’t go so often.
According to Hypertension: Journal of the American Heart Association, researchers at Harvard Medical School followed a group of 5,042 people with diabetes and high blood pressure for five years, looking at how often they went to see a doctor and how their blood pressure varied.
What they found was that people who visited their doctor every two weeks, or more, often reached normal blood pressure levels after an average of 21 days; those who went once a month or more achieved the same after an average of one and a half months. And those study participants who stayed away from the doctor for longer, sometimes waiting more than a month to make an appointment, only got to normal levels after more than a year.
Around 40 to 50 percent of people with diabetes also have have hypertension – the medical term for blood pressure that is over 140/90. If you think you may be at risk, see your GP.
First published May 26, 2010