Regular doctor visits can greatly help your vital signs

Regular doctor visits can greatly help your vital signs

For some, there are physical and psychological barriers to seeing their primary physician. But whether it’s because you’re not being diligent enough to schedule necessary yearly appointments or the fear of finding out something you didn’t want to know, a new study shows the benefits of regular visits to your doctor. And that is especially the case when it comes to keeping your blood pressure in check.

In the latest statistics, there were more than 1.2 billion visits yearly to a physician offices, hospital outpatient and emergency departments, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. However, many of those visits did come from the emergency department from symptoms that were not a one-time or first-time situations.

Researchers analyzed data from 37,000 American adults who had their blood pressure checked between 1999 and 2012. Those who saw their doctor at least twice a year were 3.2 times more likely to keep their blood pressure under control than those who saw their doctor once a year or less. The study was published in the journal Circulation this month.

This is “probably because doctors recognize the need to control risk factors and may be quicker to give them blood pressure medications,” study author Dr. Brent Egan, a professor of medicine at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine, said in a journal news release.

When it comes to blood pressure, the top number, or systolic, measures pressure in the arteries when the heart beats. The lower number, or diastolic, measures the pressure of arteries between heartbeats when the heart muscle is resting and refilling with blood. High blood pressure can cause serious health problems such as stroke and heart attack, according to the American Heart Association.

Researchers also pointed to weight as a large factor in controlling blood pressure. Nearly 80 percent of the 78 million American adults who were diagnosed with high blood pressure are aware of their condition. However only three-quarters attempt to receive treatment and half of those people have been successful at keeping their blood pressure numbers at bay. High blood pressure also puts stress on your heart. Even after controlling for factors such as diabetes, smoking and body fat, doctor visits were the strongest predictor of blood pressure control.

But regardless of your health condition, the overriding message is to get regular check-ups.

“It is a shock to your system whenever you get diagnosed with any health ailment from something small to cancer,” says Dr. Ken Richards, a general surgeon at Advocate Trinity Hospital in Chicago. “You don’t get a diagnosis one day and the next day you are cured and it is over. That’s why you have to focus on seeing your doctors regularly, because if anything does happen to you, they can catch it at its earliest form.”

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Comments

5 Comments

  1. It’s so important to get a check-up twice a year to maintain your health.

  2. An ounce of prevention is always worth the effort!

  3. Ernst Lamothe Jr October 27, 2014 at 9:59 am · Reply

    You are correct Courtney. It is the number one way to focus on prevention.

  4. This article was a great reminder that I need to make my doctor’s appointment. It’s so easy to forget.

  5. Tyler Meredith April 26, 2016 at 6:52 pm · Reply

    It’s interesting to read about all the different conditions that regular doctor visits could help detect. I have been wanting to start taking my kids in for regular checkups, as we do with their teeth, but haven’t been motivated. I’ll have to remember all the different things that they could have without knowing it. Thanks for sharing!

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health enews Staff
health enews Staff

health enews staff is a group of experienced writers from our Advocate Health Care and Aurora Health Care sites, which also includes freelance or intern writers.