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Analysis

Is self monitoring of blood pressure in pregnancy safe and effective?

BMJ 2014; 349 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.g6616 (Published 18 November 2014) Cite this as: BMJ 2014;349:g6616
  1. James A Hodgkinson, research fellow1,
  2. Katherine L Tucker, research fellow2,
  3. Carole Crawford, research midwife2,
  4. Sheila M Greenfield, professor of medical sociology 1,
  5. Carl Heneghan, professor of evidence based medicine2,
  6. Lisa Hinton, senior qualitative researcher2,
  7. Khalid Khan, professor of obstetrics3,
  8. Louise Locock, associate professor24,
  9. Lucy Mackillop, obstetric physician5,
  10. Christine McCourt, professor of maternal health6,
  11. Mary Selwood, midwife2,
  12. Richard J McManus, National Institute for Health Research professor2
  1. 1Primary Care Clinical Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
  2. 2Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 6GG, UK
  3. 3Women’s Health Research Unit, Centre for Primary Care and Public Health, Blizard Institute, London, UK
  4. 4NIHR Oxford Biomedical Research Centre, Churchill Hospital, Oxford, UK
  5. 5Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust, Women’s Centre, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, UK
  6. 6City University London, London, UK
  1. Correspondence to: R J McManus richard.mcmanus{at}phc.ox.ac.uk
  • Accepted 20 October 2014

Abstract

Guidelines encourage the use of self monitoring of blood pressure in pregnancy, and research suggests that women prefer it. But Hodgkinson and colleagues explain that our enthusiasm may run ahead of the evidence and call for more research before it is routinely adopted

Footnotes

  • Contributors and sources: All authors are members of the Blood Pressure Monitoring in Pregnancy Research Group (BUMP). JAH and KLT are research fellows in primary care; RJMcM and CH are academic GPs; CC and MS are both midwives and researchers; SMG, LH, and LL are qualitative researchers with expertise in personal experiences of health and illness; KK, LM, and CMcC work in obstetrics and maternal health. Key studies were identified from Medline searches up to March 2014, without limiting by publication date or language and searches of BHS and dabl websites. JAH, KLT, and RJMcM wrote the first draft of the article, and subsequent drafts were edited for critical content by all. RJMcM is guarantor.

  • Competing interests: We have read and understood BMJ policy on declaration of interests and declare the following interests: RJMcM is a member of the NIHR HTA Trials Board and has received blood pressure monitoring equipment for research studies from Omron and Lloyds Pharmacy.

  • This article forms part of a larger study of blood pressure monitoring in pregnancy funded by the NIHR National School of Primary Care. We acknowledge the support of the NIHR Oxford Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care, and the invaluable contribution of Tricia Carver, Margaret Glogowska, and Ursula Saunders, patient representatives, in discussions relating to this review. We thank Jim Thornton and Lucy Chappell, who reviewed a previous version of this article.

  • Provenance and peer review: Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

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