Vital Signs and Health Monitoring.

There are five vital signs which are standard in most medical settings:

1. Body temperature
2. Pulse rate (or heart rate)
3. Blood pressure
4. Respiratory rate
5. Weight

The phrase "sixth vital sign" usually refers to pain, as perceived by the patient on a Pain scale of 0–10.

Additional candidates for vital signs include:

Weight.

Talking Bathroom Scale

Simply step on the scale and a pleasant female voice says "hello" and announces your weight. One inch digital LED display can be used without talking feature.  Choose from English, French or German. 330 lb/150 kg weight capacity. Operates on one 9 volt battery and two CR2032 lithium batteries (included).

Estimated Price:$70.00

Ordering Information for Talking Bathroom Scale

Temperature.

 BD Rapid Flex Digital Thermometer. 

• ·  Digital
• ·  As accurate as glass
• ·  Soft, flexible tip for added comfort
• ·  Large, easy–to–read night light display
• ·  Fast 9 seconds temperature read–out
• ·  Read–out in either Fahrenheit or Celsius
• .  Oral, Underarm or Rectal

Estimated Price:$11.00

Ordering Information for Thermometer

Blood Pressure Monitoring

I have recently become an advocate of “automatic ambulatory blood pressure monitoring” (“AABPM”).  This is a blood pressure monitor where the cuff automatically inflates and automatically takes a measurement at intervals during a twenty-four hour period.  If you have any concerns about high or low blood pressure, this seems to me to be very important for three reasons.

1) Most people have heard of “white coat hypertension” where a patient’s blood pressure is higher in the doctor’s office than when taken at home.  It is believed that between 20% and 40% of the patients that are diagnosed with mild to moderate high blood pressure suffer from this measurement error.

2) Most people exhibit a 15% to 25% drop in their blood pressure at night.  This is called a circadian rhythm and is normal for those people but can result in medication over dose or under dose.

3) In March of 2010, The Lancet, a highly regarded medical journal, published the results from several studies that showed that the chance of a stroke was six to fifteen times higher for patients whose blood pressure varied significantly over time.

Blood Pressure Monitors

If you are experiencing high or low blood pressure or if you are on medication that affects blood pressure, it is important to take measurement at the same time each day and to keep a log of those measurements.  Measurements taken at other times of the day should be annotated and logged as well.  Consumer Reports recommended this unit over more expensive blood pressure monitors. 

ReliOn HEM-741-CREL Blood Pressure Monitor

The HEM-741-CREL sold for less than $50.

Since that recommendation, It appears that it has been replaced. 

ReliOn® Auto Inflate Digital Blood Pressure Monitor

 This product sells for about $45 plus shipping.

Ordering Information for Relion Automatic Blood Pressure Monitor

The important features are that it has automatic inflate and measure, will average three measurements, keeps the results in memory, is easy to use and easy to read.  However, it does not automatically take measurements.

 Unfortunately I have been unable to find an economically priced AABPM.  One possibility is to use an automatic inflate but not automatic interval ABPM that does provide a graph and annotation capabilities. 

ADVANTAGE™ 6017 ADVANCED BLOOD PRESSURE MONITOR

This product sells for between $100 and $150.  It is an automatic upper arm digital home BP monitor. Unit inflates to the correct level, then quickly measures systolic and diastolic pressure and pulse. 99 reading memory for two people.  A setting allows unit to average three sequentially obtained readings.  PC link software with supplied USB cable allows comprehensive plotting of readings. It fits adult arms up to 13".

 Ordering Information for Advantage 6017 Blood Pressure Monitor with Graphing

The automatic inflate and automatic measurement AABPM models that I have reviewed all cost at least $1000 and many are in the $2000 range.  These are intended for doctors and clinics.   When I find a more reasonably priced home model I will edit this blog.  Until that time, you will need to have your doctor issue you a unit and then return it for the data to be graphed.