A lot of people have the habit of keeping their own bloodpressure measurer at home, and it is quite common that these meters are inaccurate. Since they have been out in the market for so long, and even hospitals use automatic bloodpressure meters more than mercury sphygnomanometers nowadays, it tells us that their accuracy has indeed improved throughout the years, at least, good enough for medical purposes. The problem with measuring bloodpressure at home is that you don’t always (or know how to) align the cuff to your artery properly, some people might even use the muscles when the meter is running. Matsushita’s (Panasonic) National brand has announced the new bloodpressure meter that has sensor that detects misalignment and movement of the meter, it will beep at you (politely, hopefully) and ask you to remeasure if it finds you naughty. This might reduce the artifacts and make the product more reliable. The new meter will start selling in Japan in February, and it should cost about 100USD each. — Sam Chan
EW3039P bloodpressure meter [National Japan]