MONDAY, Sept. 16, 2019 (American Heart Association News) -- Checking blood pressure at home or elsewhere outside a doctor's office could help predict a certain heart problem among black adults better than the same check done during a medical visit, new research suggests.

The study published Monday in the American Heart Association journal Hypertension sought to shed new light on a long-known issue: High blood pressure is more common and more severe for non-Hispanic black adults in the U.S. compared to other groups. Regardless of race, high blood pressure is often called "the silent killer" because its symptoms are hard to detect, and it can trigger serious cardiovascular disease.