Heart Association launches new health tool

The American Heart Association has launched its Blood Pressure Management Center, an online health management tool that was built on HealthVault, Microsoft Corp.'s newly launched consumer health platform.

The Blood Pressure Management Center has been developed to help consumers track their health information online, with an initial emphasis on managing high blood pressure and helping to lower the risk for heart disease and stroke.

High blood pressure affects one in three Americans and is one of the major risk factors for both heart disease and stroke.

"The American Heart Association has long been a source of information for consumers and patients looking to prevent heart disease and stroke or manage an existing cardiovascular condition," said Dr. Dan Jones, president of the American Heart Association.

The Blood Pressure Management Center offers consumers an easy, secure way to track important health data at no cost. Consumers can enter daily blood pressure readings and track the status of their condition over time.

They can also enter the amount of physical activity they are doing, track their weight, enter updates on how they feel each day, review their readings through easy-to-read graphs and get additional health-related information via links to the American Heart Association Web site.

Consumers can print their personal reports and take this information to their physician or even log in and access the tool while at the physician's office.

They can also allow a family member who is helping manage their care access to their online records. This Web-based platform makes it possible for people to manage their health from virtually any location and in one security-enhanced location.

The Blood Pressure Management Center can be accessed on healthvault.com or at americanheart. org/BloodPressureManagementCenter.

"The American Heart Association and Microsoft are aligned on the strategy of equipping consumers with better information to guide healthcare decisions," said Peter Neupert, Corporate Vice President of the Health Solutions Group at Microsoft.

"The association's Blood Pressure Management Center provides the ability to collect, act on and share data related to heart health - a critical tool to help improve health care for heart patients," he said.

"Heart disease is the No. 1 killer in America and stroke is No. 3," said Jones. "The more we can educate people and offer them tools to proactively manage their health, the better chance we have of fighting these diseases."