New study shows blood pressure levels rose during pandemic

LOS ANGELES, Nov. 1 (Xinhua) -- Adults with hypertension saw a small but consequential rise in their blood pressure levels during the first eight months of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new study published on Tuesday.

The COVID-19 pandemic saw widespread stay-at-home orders and lockdowns, prompting some researchers to explore its impact on these patients.

In the study funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), researchers looked at the electronic data records of 137,593 adults with hypertension and compared blood pressure outcomes before the pandemic with those during the peak of the pandemic.

The findings add to growing evidence that blood pressure control worsened in people with hypertension during the early months of the pandemic, said a release of the NIH.

Still, the problem was not nearly as dire as they expected, possibly due to the rapid adoption of telemedicine and home blood pressure monitoring, said the release.

Hypertension, or high blood pressure, affects over 1 billion people worldwide. Only about 1 in 4 U.S. adults with hypertension have their condition under control, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.