Cuffless Blood Pressure Meters: Do They Actualy Work?

We’re seeing an increasing number of wearable devices on the market today that claim to monitor our blood pressure throughout the day, eliminating the need for uncomfortable and cumbersome blood pressure cuffs.

If these watches were accurate, they would be invaluable for healthcare professionals, as they provide a more precise understanding of how a person’s blood pressure fluctuates throughout the day. Decisions about medication and when a patient should take it could be customized based on these devices.

It almost sounds too good to be true… is it?

To answer this question, Microsoft Research published a detailed article about a major project called the Aurora Project, which aimed to assess the accuracy of these devices. The study involved 1125 participants, and the results showed that these devices were NOT accurate.

According to the researchers, all the devices available today were a “clear-cut negative,” which means it is beyond a doubt that these devices are not accurate enough, or cannot consistently produce accurate results for clinical use.

However, we should not dismiss the technology just yet. Cuffless blood pressure monitoring is one of the most promising areas of health research, and many companies worldwide are working to develop a reliable device that relies on these technologies.

The takeaway message for the average person with hypertension is NOT to rush out and buy these devices just yet. The technology is intriguing and promising, but the devices currently on the market haven’t yet proven to be reliable enough, even if some are approved in certain countries.