With the events transpiring in the world in the last couple of years, the so-called “pandemic years”, complaints of high blood pressure have been on the rise. So has the sale of digital blood pressure (BP) monitors. What exactly are these digital BP monitors? How to check BP at home?
Let’s find out. But first, let’s run through the basics of blood pressure measurement.Contents:
Blood pressure (BP) is defined as the force exerted by blood on the walls of your arteries (the blood vessels that carry blood from your heart to other parts of the body). With each heartbeat, your heart pumps blood into your arteries.
Blood pressure is measured in millimetres of mercury (mm Hg).
|Blood Pressure Category||Systolic (mm Hg)||and/or||Diastolic (mm Hg)|
|Low||Less than 90||and/or||Less than 60|
|Normal||Less than 120||and||Less than 80|
|Elevated||120 to 129||and||Less than 80|
|High Blood Pressure (Hypertension Stage 1)||130 to 139||or||80 to 89|
|High Blood Pressure (Hypertension Stage 2)||140 or higher||or||90 or higher|
|Hypertensive Crisis||Higher than 180||and/or||Higher than 120|
The device used to measure your blood pressure is called a sphygmomanometer. This device can be of two types - manual and digital, with digital BP monitors gaining prominent usage in the past few decades. With the easy availability of digital BP monitors, it is now possible for anyone to measure their blood pressure in the comfort of their home.
Most digital BP monitors measure BP by the oscillometric technique, wherein the vibrations in the arterial wall caused by the blood flowing through an artery between systolic and diastolic pressures are measured.
The majority of digital BP monitors are upper arm devices, although wrist BP measuring devices are also widely available.
Upper arm digital BP monitors usually consist of a monitor and an arm cuff.
Here are the steps for home-BP measurement using an upper arm digital BP monitor:
Yes, digital BP monitors are accurate, provided they have been validated clinically and meet the quality standards set by relevant national or international hypertension organisations.
The Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI), the British Hypertension Society (BHS), and the European Society of Hypertension (ESH) have established protocols in place for the pre-licensing of commercially available BP measuring devices.
In a policy statement released in 2016, the World Hypertension League, the International Society of Hypertension and supporting hypertension organisations (including the Indian Society of Hypertension) have recommendations to regulate the manufacturing and marketing of blood pressure devices and cuffs.
In the policy statement, the primary recommendation is to the private sector to “manufacture and sell only: (1) automated BP devices that have been independently tested to meet the international validation standard or national protocols for accuracy with the detailed results either (a) published in peer-reviewed scientific journals, (b) publically accessible, or (c) verified by a government agency…”
The statement also makes a recommendation to governmental organisations to “develop policies and regulations to allow only the sale of:(1) automated BP devices that have been independently tested to meet the international validation standard or national protocols for accuracy with the detailed results either (a) published in peer-reviewed scientific journals, (b) publically accessible, or (c) verified by a government agency…”
Digital BP monitors that satisfy the criteria outlined in the policy statement can be considered safe and accurate.
Omron blood pressure monitors are proven to be accurate. All Omron BP monitors:
You can buy Omron BP monitors here.
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