Blood Pressure Phone Apps May Be Dangerous, Experts

Millions of people who downloaded smartphone applications that promise to measure their blood pressure may be facing potential danger, a new research suggests.

This study analyzed the top 107 apps for hypertension and high blood pressure available for download on the Google Play store and Apple iTunes store and found a small number of apps that claimed to read blood pressure by having an individual press their fingers onto phone screens or cameras, writes Health Central. Researchers say that these claims are bogus and that kind of functionality does not yet have medical or clinical backing.

"This technology is really in its nascent stages, and it's not quite ready for prime time," lead author Dr. Nilay Kumar, an attending physician at the Cambridge Health Alliance in Cambridge, Massachusetts and a Harvard Medical School instructor, told Reuters Health.

Kumar was surprised to learn that apps marketed as turning smartphones into blood pressure measuring devices had been downloaded at least 900,000 times and as many as 2.4 million times.

"That's concerning that such a small number of apps have been downloaded so many times," he said. "We were surprised by the popularity."

The authors of the study said that their findings elevate "serious concerns about patient safety" and reveal an "urgent need for greater regulation and oversight in medical app development."

"The idea that you're going to be able to stick your finger on the camera of your smartphone and get an accurate blood pressure reading is pretty farfetched right now," Dr. Karen Margolis, an internist and director of clinical research at HealthPartners Institute for Education and Research in Minneapolis, told Reuters Health.

"There is virtually no information at all about how accurate these apps are. It doesn't sound to me like it's ready for routine use in any way that medical decisions could be based on," she added.

On a positive note, the study did found that 72 per cent or nearly three-quarters of the mobile apps offered useful tools that allow patients to keep track of their medical data and provide them access to medical professionals, as well as reminders to adhere to medication programs.

The scientists noted that none of the apps have been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which regulates medical devices. Some experts say medical apps should be considered medical devices, which would require them to be regulated by the FDA, writes Health Central.

The study was published in the Journal of the American Society of Hypertension.