Wrist blood pressure monitors: Are they accurate?

Wrist blood pressure monitors can be accurate if used exactly as directed. However, according to the American Heart Association, it's best to use a home blood pressure monitor that measures blood pressure in your upper arm. Devices for the upper arm are also easier to check for accuracy than are wrist monitors.

Wrist blood pressure monitors are extremely sensitive to body position. To get an accurate reading when taking your blood pressure with a wrist monitor, your arm and wrist must be at heart level. Even then, it's thought that because of differences in the width of the arteries in your forearm, and how deep the arteries are under your skin, blood pressure measurements taken at the wrist are usually higher and less accurate than those taken at your upper arm.

It's not uncommon for blood pressure readings taken at home on any type of monitor to be different from those taken at your doctor's office. If you have a wrist blood pressure monitor, it's a good idea to take your monitor to a doctor's appointment. Your doctor can then check your blood pressure with both a standard upper arm monitor and a wrist monitor in the correct position in the same arm to check your wrist blood pressure monitor's accuracy.