Carilion Clinic Neurosurgeon, Zev Elias, MD, provides commentary on brain tumors to WDBJ, following the announcement of Sen. Ted Kennedy's diagnosis.
WSLS updates the status of the joint medical school being developed by Carilion Clinic and Virginia Tech, including the official new name: the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine or VTC.
Friday, May 23, 2008
World Record Attempt Reveals Interesting Stats - Is your Blood Pressure Medication Working?
A review of the numbers revealed that Carilion Clinic did unofficially break the current Guinness World Record for most blood pressures taken in a 24-hour period, but by a smaller margin than originally thought. The confirmed number of blood pressures recorded during last week's event is 2,329, beating the old record (set in March) of 2302. We are submitting our documentation to Guinness for review.
As we reviewed the numbers, some other interesting statistics emerged. 30% of the people tested had high readings (above 140/90). That matches the national average pretty well. According to the American Heart Association, 1 in three Americans have high blood pressure. The AHA also says that 71.8 % of people with high blood pressure know they have it. In our group, only 53% of people with high readings had been previously told they have high blood pressure. 47% were unaware.
Another area of concern - 537 people tested during the event said they were taking medication for high blood pressure, but half of them still had high readings (above 140/90).
The take home message - know your numbers - even if you're taking medication for high blood pressure, have it checked regularly and if your numbers are too high, see your doctor!
Saturday, May 17, 2008
WE DID IT!! (unofficially)
We needed to take 2303 blood pressures in 24 hours to break the previous record of 2302. According to our preliminary count, we recorded 2359!
We will now go back and audit our count and prepare our submission to Guinness. Keep your fingers crossed! A huge thanks to everyone who helped out - our staff, our volunteers, our adjudicators, and the 2359 people who came out to support us, and hopefully learn a little bit more about their health. We will be reviewing the anonymous data we collected and will have more information next week, including how many people learned for the first time they may have high blood pressure. We hope this event makes everyone a little more aware of the importance of controlling high blood pressure.
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