About 6.7% of U.S. adults—nearly 17 million Americans—don't fit in the blood pressure cuff that comes standard with many at-home devices, putting them at risk for inaccurate readings.
Kristen Fischer has written for numerous health publications, hospitals, and medical companies, and is a member of the Association of Health Care Journalists.Nick Blackmer is a librarian, fact-checker, and researcher with more than 20 years of experience in consumer-facing health and wellness content.A new study found that about 17 million Americans don’t fit properly in the standard blood pressure cuffs that come with most at-home blood pressure devices.
About 7% of American adults—about 17 million people—don’t fit properly in the blood pressure cuffs that come standard with most at-home blood pressure devices, according to a new study.on September 5, assessed 10 popular blood-pressure monitoring devices. Nine of the devices offered blood pressure cuffs that ranged in size from 8.7 inches to 16.5 inches. However, millions of people have an arm circumference that falls outside this range.“Knowing that 16.5 million U.S.
To build on these findings, Brady and her team wanted to investigate how often these issues might be coming up for people testing their blood pressure at home. They found that “the cuff sizes typically provided with devices purchased from an easily accessible marketplace don’t fit a large proportion of the U.S. population,” she explained.
“Individuals with obesity are most likely to use a cuff that doesn’t fit well—they are most likely to have a larger mid-arm circumference and therefore more likely to not easily find a device ‘off the shelf’ with a cuff that fits their arm,” she said. “Most physicians’ offices are very careful to choose the right cuff size, and all of the staff are typically trained well in this aspect,”, director of the Vascular Medicine Institute and the Center for Pulmonary Vascular Biology and Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, toldThe American Heart Association recommends using an automatic, cuff-style monitor that goes on your upper arm. Avoid wrist or finger monitors, which can be inaccurate.
It’s also important that the cuff you use is associated with the specific blood pressure monitor you choose—if you use an “off-brand” cuff, you can’t be assured that it will give you an accurate reading, Brady said.
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