title: Self-monitoring of ambulatory blood pressure by the Microlife WatchBP O3--an application test.
abstract: Ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) is not widely used in clinical practice, because the measuring procedure is complex and the devices are expensive and need to be fitted by skilled medical technologists. The Microlife WatchBP O3 (Microlife AG, Widnau, Switzerland), which was developed for self blood pressure monitoring at home and adapted for ABPM, is highly affordable for an ABPM device and easy to manipulate. We performed an application test of the WatchBP O3 to confirm reliability of the device. Thirty-seven volunteer participants (age 30.4 ± 13.5 y) underwent blood pressure (BP) measurements every 30 min for 24 h, and were asked to complete a questionnaire about the user-friendliness and acceptability of the device. The participants were asked to attach the device and to detach it the next morning by themselves. The quality of recordings was assessed in terms of percentage of valid readings. The mean number of 24-h BP readings per participant was 46.6 ± 5.3. The percentage of valid readings was 90%, which was similar to that reported for traditional ambulatory devices. Eighty-six percent of participants found it is "easy" or "very easy" to attach the device by themselves. The WatchBP O3, which is easy to manipulate, may be convenient and acceptable for users. The percentage of valid readings is similar to that reported previously. A new era of self-monitoring of ambulatory BP is anticipated in the near future.
authors.affiliation: Departments of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Medicine, Tohoku University, 6-3 Aramaki-aza-aoba, Sendai, Japan.
authors.forename: Hajime
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nakano
authors.forename: Masahiro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kikuya
authors.forename: Azusa
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hara
authors.forename: Manami
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nakashita
authors.forename: Takuo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hirose
authors.forename: Taku
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Obara
authors.forename: Hirohito
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Metoki
authors.forename: Ryusuke
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Inoue
authors.forename: Kei
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Asayama
authors.forename: Takayoshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ohkubo
authors.forename: Kazuhito
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Totsune
authors.forename: Yutaka
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Imai
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001794:Blood Pressure; D018660:Blood Pressure Monitoring, Ambulatory / Q000295:instrumentation*; D015924:Blood Pressure Monitors / Q000639:trends*; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care; D015203:Reproducibility of Results