Making the Diagnosis
If your blood pressure is above the normal range on up to five readings
(taken at different visits), a diagnosis of high blood pressure will be made.
Blood pressure tends to be at its highest during exercise, physical work, or
stress, and lowest during sleep. Everyone can have a temporary increase in blood
pressure at one time or another, which is why it's important to take multiple
readings.
If blood pressure is high, a physician will also want to know if there are
any other risk factors such as high cholesterol, diabetes, inactivity, obesity,
smoking, or a family history of heart disease. The more risk factors someone
has, the higher the chance of getting heart disease or stroke.
A doctor might take an electrocardiogram (ECG) for a reading of the
electric activity of the heart or get blood samples to see if high blood pressure
has caused any organ damage.