Blood Pressure Monitor Blog Archives

This blog remained active for only a few months. Here is an archive of postings. For more up-to-date information on blood pressure monitors please see the Personal Health Monitor Blog.

Three-in-One Blood Pressure Monitor
Formosa Biomedical Technology Corporation is to market a new blood pressure monitor for the home that incorporates the ability to measure arterial hardness.

According to an announcement from the company:

The company's Automatic Digital Blood Pressure Monitor with Arterial Hardness Value Measurement is a three-in-one electronic device utilizing medical technology previously available only to doctors in a hospital setting. Using patented sensor technology, the device determines the hardness of a person's arteries while simultaneously measuring blood pressure and heart rate.
April 14th, 2006

More Reviews
I've just added some more product reviews to the site - they're listed in the left-hand column. Actually, they're not exactly reviews; rather, they're reports of what is being written about certain blood pressure monitors. It's very hard to find, online, real reviews. In some cases I've included consumer reviews from the Amazon.com site. Though these are hardly scientific, I actually think there's a lot of value in them, especially when there's half-a-dozen or more together.
March 10th, 2006

The 15-Second Blood Pressure Monitor
US company Medwave plans a big marketing effort for its new blood pressure monitor, with $4.4 million in funding, according to a report in the Eagle-Tribune.

Medwave recently received regulatory approval for its Primo palm-sized monitor, which digitally records a patient's pulse and blood pressure within 15 seconds.

However, at $1,000 each, the units will initially be marketed to the professionals, rather than the home user.

Medwave officials estimate it takes as much as two minutes per patient to register blood pressure and pulse readings with standard monitoring systems. Those devices also require regular maintenance and re-calibration to ensure accuracy, significantly adding to their longterm costs. By comparison, they said, Primo is nearly maintenance-free with the price of batteries being its only added expense.

"The existing technology is more than 100 years old — and it shows," Medwave Chief Executive Tim O'Malley said recently. "Blood pressure monitoring was overdue for a major innovation."
February 24th, 2006

Monitoring Together
Looking for a romantic Valentine's Day gift? Omron Healthcare has a suggestion - a blood pressure monitor. According to the company:

Monitor your health - together!...Measure progress by taking your blood pressure using one of Omron Healthcare's Blood Pressure Monitors (models HEM-780 or HEM-637). It is a simple way to see the results of the changes you've made together and their contributions to the ongoing health of your loved one.
February 9th, 2006

Helping You Focus on the Goal
A useful article on blood pressure monitors is in Oklahoma's Enid News and Eagle, from Aging Agency case manager Judy Rupp.

An excerpt:

Monitoring your blood pressure (BP) is like watching the temperature and oil pressure gauges on your automobile. If your car is relatively new and has been well maintained, those gauges are going to be sitting right on normal most of the time. But it’s still important to keep your eye on them … just in case.

...About half of Americans with high blood pressure don’t know they have it. And about half of those who do eventually quit following their treatment plan, at least in part because they have no symptoms to spur them on.

Home blood pressure monitoring several times a day is like stepping on the scales when you’re trying to lose weight; it helps you stay focused on your goal. An extra five to 10 points on the blood pressure gauge may reflect only some temporary stress in your environment. But if an upward trend becomes apparent, you may want to think about how you might be deviating from your treatment plan.

Studies show treatment of even mildly elevated blood pressure can make an enormous difference in reducing a person’s risk of death from stroke, heart attack, kidney failure and other causes. A small investment in a home blood pressure monitor can be an important adjunct to successful treatment.
February 2nd, 2006

New Dual-Function Blood Pressure Monitor
Korean company GenExel-Sein, formed last year from the merger of biotechnology company GenExel and medical equipment manufacturer Sein Electronics, has announced that its initial product will be a wrist blood pressure monitor that incorporates a blood glucose monitor, dubbed DUO-CARE.

A corporate press release says:

DUO-CARE provides users superior technology for blood pressure and glucose monitoring through the incorporation of Advanced Oscillometric Algorithm (AOA) and Fast Tracking Temperature technology (FTT). This state-of-the-art technology allows for consistent and accurate blood pressure measurements for patients with normal circulation, as well as those with arteries that are hardening. The blood glucose test is exceptionally fast, giving results in only five seconds.
February 1st, 2006

Wake Up Insurance Companies!
Now here's some sensible comment, from an article by Susan Ayers Walker of the SmartSilvers Alliance, on theMatureMarket.com. The title of the commentary is "Is 60 the New 40?"

As I am writing this blog I am looking over at a “dumb” home blood pressure monitor on my desk and thinking where is the USB connector to upload my data into a chart that shows me where I am today– too high, too low, or not to worry. More importantly FIX the healthcare system and my doctor’s reimbursements so I can email my blood pressure data or my blood sugar data to the doctor’s office and he will get paid for giving me feed back via email or an instant message as to how to mange my health level and not to make it worse.

And while we are on this topic – WAKE UP insurance companies – give me a coupon to reduce the price of this device so it is more attractive for me to purchase the monitor plus keep my insurance rate low if I use this monitor on a regular basis to help maintain my health level.
January 24th, 2006

Upper Arm Vs Wrist
It's generally agreed that blood pressure measurements based on a cuff around the upper arm are superior to measurements made using a wrist cuff, despite the latter being far easier to employ. However, a Sydney doctor now believes that wrist-based measurements are the better predictor of heart attacks and strokes.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports:

Michael O'Rourke, a senior researcher at the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute in Sydney, believes blood pressure generated in the large arteries is the most precise measurement for stroke and heart attack risk.

But conventional blood pressure measuring devices - sphygmomanometers which use an inflated cuff around a patient's upper arm - do not give doctors an accurate assessment of the aortic pressure, near the heart.

Professor O'Rourke has developed an electronic wrist device, known as the SphygmoCor system, which can measure a patient's aortic pressure.

That allows doctors to more accurately assess a person's risk of heart attack and stroke, and to determine whether anti-hypertensive drugs are having the desired effect, he says.
December 29th, 2005