Take heart: This gadget could save your life - By Ching M. Alano

Tag : Blood Pressure Monitors


While we probably can’t do anything about the high fuelprices and the high cost of living (except perhaps to swear to thehigh heavens), there’s one thing we can control: high bloodpressure.
Did I see you raise your skeptical eyebrows sky-high? The lowdownon high blood pressure is, yes, you can monitor and chart it dailyin the comforts of your home via the Omron blood pressure monitors.
But you ask, “Why is it a matter of life and death that wemanage and prevent high blood pressure?”
High blood pressure is a primary risk factor for triggering heartdisease, stroke, and diabetes. It is often called the silent killerbecause it does not usually cause symptoms, thus people brush itaside until it’s too late. Which brings us to anotherquestion: Is high blood pressure a disease?
Per se, having high blood pressure doesn’t mean you are sick.But it can make you sick because high blood pressure puts a strainon the blood vessels, eventually causing their inner walls toweaken and become more prone to damage. And then, if lipids, suchas cholesterol and neutral fats, become attached to these damagedinner walls, thus producing thrombus, blood flow gradually becomeshampered. In medical lingo, this is called arteriosclerosis. Thisresults in a higher risk of heart disease such as angina pectorisand myocardial infarct as well as cerebral hemorrhage, braininfarction, and even something more serious as renal (kidney)failure.
According to the Philippine Society for Hypertension (PSH), thereare about seven to 10 million Filipinos with hypertension and twomillion suffering from diabetes. And there are about five millionFilipinos with coronary artery disease.
But don’t lose heart. Research shows that we can lower ourheart disease risk significantly — that is, by as much as 82percent — by simply adopting sensible health habits. Even theolder elderly population, aged 70 to 90, can reduce their chancesof dying of heart disease by nearly two-thirds by leading aheart-healthy lifestyle.
For heart’s sake, we should take charge of our health. Andthe first step to a healthy heart is knowing our own risks forhealth diseases. But then again, while doing our darndest to lead ahealthy lifestyle, we may need a little help, like regularlyvisiting our doctor and constantly monitoring blood-related data,so we can keep up-to-date records even at home and have accuraterecords to show our doctor when we go for a checkup.
In its hearty bid to promote heart health, Collins InternationalTrading Corporation (CITC), exclusive distributor of Omron sensingdevices, recently tied up with the Philippine Society forHypertension.
Of course, the digital blood pressure monitors on the market todayare a dime a dozen, but they don’t really guarantee accuratereadings. Aware of the need of the growing legion ofhealth-conscious individuals to get correct BP measurements, CITCsought the help of PSH in accrediting two models of Omron BPM:Omron Blood Pressure Monitor Arm type — SEM 1 and OmronIntellisense Blood Pressure Monitor Arm type — IA2. At least15 units of each model were tested.
The board members of PSH, 10 doctors, and two observers (residentdoctors or personal nurses) conducted a series of tests onOmron’s blood pressure monitors.
“At least 120 subjects/patients, 18 years old and up, wererecruited from general medical and specialist clinics,”relates Omron marketing manager Julie Lee. “These patientswere tested with our Omron BPM consecutively with a mercurysphygmomanometer in nine sequential readings at one-minuteintervals.”
At simple rites held recently, the PSH formally accredited the twoOmron blood pressure monitors. Lee asserts, “We want toelevate the understanding of every Filipino household that healthmonitoring should start in our own homes and we are fortunate thatJapan’s leading brand of sensing technology has been in thecountry for many years now and it has been giving us accuratereading and measurement.”
To go to the heart of the matter, the Omron Intellisense bloodpressure monitor (BPM) is designed for comfort and ease of use. Itmakes each measurement personalized, regardless of arm size, bloodpressure fluctuations or time of measurement. It is also veryuseful even for people with arrhythmia or heart disease. Makessense, doesn’t it?
The Omron BPM has features that assure that its reading isaccurate, such as the body movement indicator and irregularheartbeat detector. The body movement indicator helps the userdetect any error in measurement due to body movement, thus ensuringmore accurate blood pressure readings. On the other hand, theirregular heartbeat detector helps eliminate the frustrating“error” messages that are normally shown on otheroscillometric BPMs when an irregular heartbeat occurs (the patientshould consult a doctor if he sees the indicator frequently.
Don’t you think it’s high time you got yourself thissensible high blood pressure sensing device?