A Blood Pressure cuff is the latest in medical attachments for the iPhone

Author: Thuc Huynh, MD

We recently wrote about the launch of the iPhonECG, a portable cardiac event monitor.

Shortly after their launch, more iPhone medical attachments have surfaced.  On the same day, two companies have released a blood pressure cuff that attaches to the bottom pin connectors of the iPhone and comes with a custom app that reads and monitors the results.

Withings is a Paris-based company that develops health-related connected devices.  You might have heard of their first product, the first WiFi Body scale that transmits results to your iphone and creates graphs of your progress.  Now, they've created a Blood Pressure Monitor.  It is a pretty slick looking blood pressure cuff.  You attach it to your iphone and using their app, you can record your BP measurements.  The app will upload results to your Google Health book or to an online, secured, personal site.   It also supports social media functions such as tweeting your BP to twitter.  The device will cost $130 dollars and expects to ship this month.

iHealth is a startup company based in Mountain View, California.  They've also released a blood pressure monitoring device.  What's different from Withings is that their blood pressure cuff attaches to an iPhone Dock.  Their iPhone App also has graphing capabilities and sharing via email.  iHealth is less expensive then Witherings, costing $99.95.

Both products will be showcasing at the Consumer Electronics show.  I will blog live from the event and post my findings here on Medical Smartphones.

This is posing to be a great trend in medical smartphone technology.  First, there was the iPhone glucometer, then an iPhone EKG, now an iPhone BP cuff.  What's next?

My best guess would be an iPhone pulse oximeter.  That's the only thing missing in your initial Vital Signs assessment.  Maybe we will start seeing an iPhone version of the iStat where you can put a drop of blood and receive instantaneous chemistry panels, blood count panels, INR's, etc.  The future for medical smartphone technology is looking very bright.

About the author:

Dr. Thuc Huynh is CEO of ScrubdIN, a startup company that aims to help health professionals choose their next medical app.  Her main interest lies around how medicine can play a role with web 2.0 and social media.  Dr. Huynh is currently Chief Resident at her Family Medicine Residency in Rapid City, SD and received her B.S. and M.D. at the Medical University of the Americas.