Qardioarm Blood Pressure Monitor
Chanelle Kirksey
The QardioArm 2 is a wireless blood pressure monitor developed in collaboration with physicians. It measures both systolic and diastolic blood pressure, heart rate, mean arterial pressure, and pulse pressure. It also has irregular heartbeat detection.
All metrics are tracked on your phone with the free Qardio App, which allows you to measure, keep tracking of your goals, set reminders and track results over time. You can also connect with your physician, to give you the power to keep on track with your health goals.
QardioArm 2 wireless blood pressure monitor is clinically validated and recommended by doctors. It measures systolic/diastolic blood pressure, heart rate, mean arterial pressure, and pulse pressure with irregular heart beat detection.
QardioArm, QardioBase, QardioCore, QardioMD and their respective logos are either registered trademarks of Qardio. Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries.
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The Qardio QardioArm is part of the Blood Pressure Monitors test program at Consumer Reports. In our lab tests, Blood Pressure Monitors models like the QardioArm are rated on multiple criteria, such as those listed below.
Convenience: Convenience is based on pluses and minuses of the model's features (such as irregular heartbeat detection, a blood-pressure risk category indicator, and multiple user memories).
Easy to set up via the QardioApp, it measures systolic and diastolic blood pressure levels and heart rate with irregular heartbeat detection. Compact and elegant, this monitor works wirelessly with your smartphone, tablet, Apple Watch, Apple Health (Apple iOS 10.0 or later, Kindle, Android 5.0 or later). This stylish, very light and portable, one-piece wide-range cuff fits standard to large adult upper arms 8.7-14.6 in circumference (22-37 cm). Battery life up to a year of frequent use. All health data is stored on your smart device to make it easy to keep track and monitor your blood pressure. Share your health trends with family or email to your doctor. Advanced features: triple measurement averaging, reminders and add-notes, geo-tracking across locations, unique relaxation mode and many more.
Objective: The purpose of this research was to validate the QardioArm mobile device in a sample of individuals with noninsulin-dependent type 2 diabetes in accordance with the guidelines of the second International Protocol of the European Society of Hypertension.
Methods: The sample consisted of 33 patients with type 2 diabetes. To evaluate the validity of QardioArm by comparing its data with that obtained with a digital sphygmomanometer (Omron M3 Intellisense), two nurses collected diastolic blood pressure, systolic blood pressure, and heart rate with both devices.
Conclusions: This paper reports the first validation of QardioArm in a population of individuals with noninsulin-dependent type 2 diabetes. QardioArm for home monitoring of blood pressure and heart rate met the requirements of the second International Protocol of the European Society of Hypertension.
San Francisco-based Qardio received FDA 510(k) clearance recently for its connected blood pressure monitor, called QardioArm. The device will be available for $99 next week on Qardio's website an in select stores.
The company is also developing another device, called QardioCore that measures a user's ECG, heart rate, Heart Rate Variability, levels of physical activity, and variations in body temperature. In the Indiegogo description, Qardio said the new device was just a few months behind QardioArm.
Two other companies have been working on making visually-appealing blood pressure monitors. Within six months of each other, in the first half of 2011, iHealth and Withings received FDA 510(k) clearance for their connected blood pressure cuffs.
In this guest blog, Satish Misra, MD, reviews the "beautifully designed" QardioArm home blood pressure cuff, connected by Bluetooth to a smartphone or tablet. Misra is a cardiology fellow at Johns Hopkins Hospital and a founding partner and managing editor at iMedicalApps. The review, originally at iMedicalApps, has been edited for length.
There is now a growing body of data that strategies in which antihypertensive therapy is titrated remotely by patients, as well as clinicians, using home blood pressure monitoring can be effective. As a result, connected blood pressure monitors could potentially have a meaningful impact on health outcomes.
There are a number of choices on the market now for connected blood pressure cuffs; in fact, we recently published a guide to those available and the key features for determining which is appropriate for your patient.
Since then, there's been a new entry into the field: QardioArm. After announcing the device at the start of the year, manufacturer Qardio of San Francisco raised nearly $150,000 on the crowd-funding site Indiegogo. The device became available in the U.S. soon after receiving FDA clearance earlier this summer.
The folks at Qardio clearly paid a great deal of attention to the form factor with this device and really came up with a surprisingly unique design -- not an easy accomplishment with a device that's been around for as long as the sphygmomanometer. The design features a low profile, with the cuff itself wrapping around a small and lightweight controller unit. As a result, it's exceptionally easy to take this device on the go or to store it at home when not in use.
It's not entirely intuitive how to apply the cuff to your arm; I did have to check the video on the company website to figure it out. After using it once or twice, it becomes far easier to apply than the usual cuff that accompanies a traditional automatic device. And changing the batteries is straightforward; just push the button on the inner surface of the controller unit to open the battery compartment.
The device is controlled entirely through an app that is available for iOS and Android, the latter of which became available in early September. Opening the app for the first time, we are asked to register and provide some personal information, including the name of our physician. From then on, the app opens straight to the measurement screen.
When using QardioArm, I found the whole exercise to be quite quick in terms of the time it took to apply the cuff, open the app, and start a measurement. Granted, when doing it correctly, the whole process should be extended by a few minutes of rest prior to the measurement, and the two measurements should be separated by about at least a minute. That said, I found that even at 6 a.m. prior to my first cup of coffee, I could go from sitting down to starting a measurement in less than 30 seconds.
The QardioArm is a beautifully designed blood pressure cuff. The device itself is clever in its design, making it quite portable with a low profile. The app is both sleek and designed in such a way as to make the task of checking a blood pressure as easy as possible.
The functionality does have some limitations. For patients that use other self-tracking devices, such as a pedometer or connected weight scale, there are options out there that offer far better third party device integration. It would also be nice if the app reminded patients to bring their device into the clinic; that deficiency is certainly not unique to QardioArm though. Finally, the sharing functionality could be improved.
At $99, it comes in on the lower end of the cost spectrum. iHealth's blood pressure cuff is also $99 whereas Withings and Blip come in at $130 and $160, respectively. For the functionality, iHealth does have a more robust app in terms of functionality, but a price is paid in usability: it takes more steps to actually check a blood pressure.
At the end of the day, QardioArm is an outstanding addition to the field of options available for connected blood pressure cuffs and definitely an option to consider when recommending a connected blood pressure monitor.
Methods: A total of 100 healthy volunteers older than 25 years from the general population of Ciudad Real, Spain, participated in a test-retest validation study with two measurement sessions separated by 5 to 7 days. In each measurement session, seven systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, and heart rate assessments were taken, alternating between the two devices. The test device was the QardioArm and the previously validated criterion device was the Omron M3. Sessions took place at a single study site with an evaluation room that was maintained at an appropriate temperature and kept free from noises and distractions.
Results: The QardioArm displayed very consistent readings both within and across sessions (intraclass correlation coefficients=0.80-0.95, standard errors of measurement=2.5-5.4). The QardioArm measurements corresponded closely to those from the criterion device (r>.96) and mean values for the two devices were nearly identical. The QardioArm easily passed all validation standards set by the European Society of Hypertension International Protocol.