Blood pressure monitoring is a critical aspect of prenatal care, as hypertension during pregnancy can lead to serious complications such as preeclampsia, eclampsia, and other hypertensive disorders. Automatic blood pressure devices are widely used for home monitoring due to their convenience and ease of use. Automatic blood pressure devices require additional accuracy validation before they are recommended for use in pregnancy. This study evaluated the availability of such devices from 18 Australian pharmacies. Only four devices (4/54, 7%) were validated for pregnancy and were more expensive than devices validated for the general population (14/54, 26%) and non-validated devices (40/54, 74%). Additionally, limited labelling and information was available to assist consumers to make informed purchasing decisions about home blood pressure devices for use in pregnancy. Increased availability, clear labelling and consumer education could help ensure use of appropriate blood pressure devices in pregnancy.

The authors have declared no competing interest.

NC is supported by a National Heart Foundation Australia Fellowship. DSP is supported by a National Medical Research Council of Australia Fellowship (GNT2018077) and is an Honorary Future Leader Fellow of the Heart Foundation of Australia. The work was supported by New South Wales Cardiovascular Elite Postdoctoral Researcher Grant (H23/37663).

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The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.