Arab News Japan

TOKYO: Japanese healthcare company OMRON is promoting the need – and the capability – of monitoring nocturnal blood pressure in order to detect early signs of heart problems.

At the 32nd Scientific Meeting of the European Society of Hypertension from June 23 to 26 in Milan, the company introduced recent initiatives in its “Going for ZERO” vision of zero heart attacks and strokes.

OMRON says there is a need for better personal monitoring of blood pressure at night and will display a collection of blood pressure monitors at the meeting. These will include an upper-arm blood pressure monitor with built-in ECG technology, a wrist nocturnal blood pressure monitor for measuring night-time blood pressure, and a blood pressure monitor with an integrated cuff. 

The company says it is important to measure blood pressure at home while sleeping for early detection and intervention of nocturnal hypertension, which can cause atrial fibrillation, a type of arrhythmia that is known to be the cause of embolisms.

According to OMRON, blood pressure fluctuates throughout the day and its readings at night are normally 10-20 percent lower than daytime readings. It says evidence shows that people with night-time blood pressure remaining the same as in the daytime would have a 2.56 times greater stroke mortality rate, while the stroke mortality rate of the group with blood pressure increasing at night is 3.69 times higher.