Are blood pressure Wrist cuff accurate

A recent study showed that the Avita BPM15S wrist blood pressure monitor is accurate and user-friendly enough to be used at home. The device was evaluated using the 2010 European Society of Hypertension International Protocol revision.

The study compared readings from the wrist BP monitor to measurements taken using mercury sphygmomanometers by experienced professionals. Three systolic and three diastolic measurements using the wrist device were compared to measurements made by the mercury sphygmomanometers.

The study had 33 participants. Systolic blood pressures ranged from 80 to 182 mmHg and diastolic ranged from 40 to 130 mmHg. The study found that 32 of 33 participants had at least 2 of 3 systolic measurements within 5 mmHg of the observer’s measurement. For diastolic, 28 of 33 had 2 of 3 measurements within the 5 mmHg range. The rest of the participants had at least 1 measurement within 5 mmHg of the gold standard measurement.

The average device-observer difference was about 1.5 for both systolic and diastolic measurements with a standard deviation of about 4.5.

This study shows potential for the use of the Avita BPM15S at home by patients with a need to be monitoring their blood pressure regularly — however, the study size was small, and we would want to see more studies done with larger patient populations.