Whether the display of your digital blood pressure machine shows you a reading that's low, high or normal, you want to be confident that it is correct. Buying a reliable digital blood pressure monitor provides you an advantage: According to the Mayo Clinic, blood pressure temporarily increases with stress, so removing worry about the accuracy of your results may decrease stress and lower your daily blood pressure readings.
The Best Types of Digital Blood Pressure Machines
The American Heart Association recommends choosing a digital blood pressure machine that measures pressure from the upper arm. Wrist and finger blood pressure monitors do not provide results as reliable as machines with upper-arm blood pressure cuffs, according to the AHA.
Criteria
The European Society of Hypertension--ESH--recommends monitors with a digital displays and memory functions with the ability to average the stored blood pressure readings. The ESH, the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation--AAMI--and the British Hypertension Society--BHS--all have protocols to measure a blood pressure monitor's accuracy and reliability. DABL Educational Trust recommends monitors based on its analysis of research.
Omron HEM-780
The Omron HEM-780 Automatic Blood Pressure Monitor won the first FDA approval for a device that can detect early morning hypertension, which can be a warning for stroke. The HEM-780 monitor earned the BHS's top rating,along with validations from EHS and AAMA. Only eight monitors worldwide have achieved this distinction, according to DABL Educational Trust.
The monitor features "Intellisense," computer logic that senses the systolic and diastolic blood pressure values, or the top blood pressure number and the low blood pressure number, according to the company's website, which means the cuff does not squeeze the arm too tightly. The HEM-780 cuff size fits a wide range of arm sizes, including arms with 9- to 17-inch circumferences. The cuff senses irregular heartbeats, and will take three consecutive readings and average them.
Lifesource UA-767 Plus
The Lifesource UA-767P earned the highest rating from BHS. The U.K. Buyer's Guide for blood pressure monitors recommends this digital blood pressure machine.
UA-767P saves the last 90 readings for recall. The monitor will average all of the readings in memory. Cuffs are latex-free and available in three sizes. The monitor has a pressure rating indicator that helps you understand if your blood pressure is in the normal range. The UA-767P alerts you if your heartbeat is irregular.
Microlife BP 3BTO-A
DABL recommends the Microlife BP 3BTO-AP as a top blood pressure machine for pregnant women for monitoring pre-eclampsia, or hypertension during pregnancy. The BHS gave the BP 3BTO-A its second-highest rating for this purpose and its highest rating for regular monitoring; the monitor also passes the AAMI standard.
The BP 3BTO-AP monitor stores the last 99 reading, and comes with a medium-sized cuff. It offers an irregular heart rate indicator and a five-year warranty.
References
- Mayo Clinic: Stress and Hyptertension: What's the Connection?
- American Heart Association: Choosing a Home Blood Pressure Monitor
- European Society of Hypertension: European Society of Hypertension guidelines for blood pressure monitoring at home: a summary report of the Second International Consensus Conference on Home Blood Pressure Monitoring
- DABL Educational Trust: Upper Arm Devices for Self-Measurement of Blood Pressure
- NHS: Buyer's Guide: Low Cost Non-Invasive Blood Pressure Monitors
