Karen Tran

MHSc, FRCP, MD

Investigator, BC Children's Hospital
Physician, Obstetrical Medicine, BC Women's Hospital & Health Centre

Preeclampsia and high blood pressure (BP) in pregnancy affects 1 in 10 pregnancies. Currently, experts recommend that BPs are measured and medications are given based on BP readings in the maternity care-providers' offices. This may be inaccurate because pregnant women often have a "white–coat effect," experiencing a higher BP reading in the office. Many physicians already use home BP monitoring in pregnant women to get a more "accurate" BP reading. The problem with this approach is no guidelines for properly measuring BP at home exist in pregnancy. The goal of our research is to understand how physicians use HBPM and the experiences of home monitoring in pregnant women.