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Joy Tassey, a keyboard specialist in Binghamton University's Registrar's Office, works with an ambulatory blood pressure monitor. The device takes readings every 15 minutes to record a variety of blood pressure readings. The device will be used to help track 200 subjects as part of a hypertension study.

About 20 percent of patients experience "white coat hypertension" -- a blood pressure increase during a visit to the doctor, James said. The benign condition may be an inherent response, or a learned response from a previous bad experience.

"Masked hypertension" occurs when a patient's blood pressure decreases during a visit to the doctor. It is attributed to feelings of relaxation and comfort, James said, and affects nearly 10 percent of patients.

Both conditions can lead to a misdiagnosis, he said.

A more accurate diagnosis can possibly cut patient care costs, according to Dr. James Jewell, director of the Internal Medical Residency Program at Wilson and a coordinator of the study.

As part of the study, which begins Tuesday, about 200 local residents and patients from the Wilson Internal Medicine Clinic will have an ambulatory blood pressure monitor attached to their arm for a 24-hour period. Readings will be taken every 15 minutes during the day and every half-hour at night.

During the day, participants will fill out a chart noting the time, activity, emotions and their location each time the pressure is recorded. Another day of recording will take place a month later.

"I think there's awareness -- but probably not enough awareness -- about how tightly blood pressure has to be controlled to prevent heart attack," Jewell said.

James said understanding more about what leads to hypertension can help patients develop healthier lifestyle changes. "It would also be a useful thing from a preventative medicine standpoint," he said.

Local study will help doctors better diagnose hypertension

BY APRIL FLORES
Press & Sun-Bulletin

Greater Binghamton residents participating in a new study will help researchers discover ways to diagnose hypertension more accurately. That could help patients develop healthier lifestyles and cut medical costs by preventing incorrect diagnoses.

A $120,000 research grant from the New York State Empire Clinical Research Investigator Program has been awarded to Binghamton University and United Health Services for the study.

Dr. Gary D. James, director of the Institute for Primary and Preventative Care at Binghamton University, worked on hypertension research during his 15 years at Cornell Medical Center in New York City. He said grants usually go to large medical centers that study people in urban or suburban areas. He is excited about studying a rural area and being able to affect the local community.

"It's going to generate an enormous amount of data," he said.

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's 2000 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, about 25 percent of adult New Yorkers are diagnosed with hypertension, the leading cause of kidney failure, stroke and heart disease. James, also a professor of nursing and anthropology at BU, will head the research with Dr. Roger Scott of Wilson Memorial Regional Medical Center in Johnson City.