Trying to choose a blood pressure monitor for use at home can seem bewildering. There is a wide range of blood pressure monitor machines available - all of them claiming to have advantages over each other. So - how do you choose a blood pressure monitor?
Do you need to monitor blood pressure at home?
This is really the first question that you need to ask yourself. Do you really need to check your blood pressure at home on a regular basis or is it enough to have your doctor check it every once in a while? The evidence is now pretty convincing that if your doctor checks your blood pressure then your blood pressure reading is likely to be quite a bit higher than if you check it yourself at home. This rise in blood pressure when faced with a doctor is sometimes called white coat hypertension - hypertension is just another name for high blood pressure.
Some doctors or hospitals make use of sophisticated machines which can record a whole series of blood pressure readings in a 24 hour period - called twenty four hour ambulatory monitoring. Recording blood pressure this way gives a very clear picture of what your true blood pressure is doing but it may not always be required unless your blood pressure is proving very hard to control.
In general - provided you can afford to buy the blood pressure monitor, and providing you don't get too obsessive about small variations in the readings, then having a home blood pressure monitor is a good idea. You can quickly learn to build up a blood pressure chart of your own readings from the blood pressure machine and this may help you and your doctor plan your treatment more effectively.
Many people who purchase a home digital blood pressure monitor feel that it gives them a greater sense of involvement in their own healthcare. Others simply get panicky when the readings show a normal and natural variation from day to day. If you buy a blood pressure monitor then try to get into the habit of checking your blood pressure reading at or around the same time every day - this will tend to improve the reliability of the results.
What kind of blood pressure monitor should you buy?
In general my advice would be to buy the best that you can afford. It's your long-term health we're discussing and it's important to take that seriously. The blood pressure monitors that are now available to buy are for the most part quite accurate. The mid to high range digital blood pressure monitors are often used in hospital departments or by family doctors and have been carefully tested for accuracy and reliability. Some of the manual versions (the blood pressure cuff is inflated by hand) tend to lose their accuracy over time.
Make sure that the blood pressure cuff fits your arm
One of the key things when measuring blood pressure is to choose a cuff that fits comfortably all the way round your arm. If the cuff is too tight then the blood pressure monitor will return a reading that is higher than the true reading. At the press of a button on the automatic blood pressure monitor the blood pressure cuff will inflate to a certain level and then automatically deflates again. There is a sensor in the blood pressure cuff that automatically detects the rate of your heart and measures your blood pressure reading. The result will be displayed on a screen with the higher number showing your systolic blood pressure and the lower number showing your diastolic blood pressure.
Before checking your blood pressure you should have rested sitting down for at least five minutes.
Make sure that you line up the arrow on the cuff with the pulse at the crease in front of your elbow - ask your doctor to show you how to do this if you are not sure.
The blood pressure monitor machine will have a built in function to alert you if an error occurs with your reading.
Upper arm digital blood pressure monitor
These blood pressure monitor machines usually come out as being most accurate and most reliable in independent tests. The blood pressure cuff goes around the upper part of your arm with the arrow to the front over the artery pulse at the front of your elbow crease.
Wrist or finger digital blood pressure monitor
Most doctors think that these are less reliable than the upper arm version. The readings can be sensitive to movement or to changes in body temperature. Some of the more expensive wrist blood pressure monitor models are improving their accuracy but are still generally not quite as accurate as the upper arm models.
If you do decide to buy a digital blood pressure monitor then it is important to take it with you to your doctor's office once a year or so and compare the reading it gets with your doctors machine.
Also, one last tip:
Please don't forget to change the batteries from time to time! You might end up feeling rather foolish if you do.
Gordon Cameron MD is based in Edinburgh, Scotland. He has a special interest in blood pressure problems in general and in low blood pressure in particular.
