What your Blood Pressure Reading Misses

Synopsis: Every first Wednesday of the month, The Straits Times helps you make sense of health matters that affect you.

For millions of people worldwide living with hypertension, keeping blood pressure numbers in the normal zone is the ultimate goal. But what if that peace of mind is an illusion? Recent findings from the REMODEL study at the National Heart Centre Singapore suggests that the true danger to your heart might be completely invisible to standard clinical checks. 

The study, published as a letter in the journal MedCom in February 2026, found that nearly 30 per cent of health complications related to high blood pressure occur in patients whose blood pressure appears perfectly normal on paper.

In this episode, Joyce Teo speaks to the study’s senior author, Associate Professor Calvin Chin, to find out about the importance of fat loss over mere weight loss and why a normal blood pressure reading may not always tell you the full story. He is a senior consultant in cardiology from the National Heart Centre Singapore and the deputy director of the National Heart Research Institute Singapore.

www.straitstimes.com