title: Impact of atrial fibrillation on the accuracy of oscillometric blood pressure monitoring.
abstract: The introduction of automated oscillometric blood pressure monitors was the basis for today's widespread use of blood pressure self-measurement. However, in atrial fibrillation, there is a controversial debate on the use of oscillometry because there is a high variability of heart rate and stroke volume. To date, the accuracy of oscillometric blood pressure monitoring in atrial fibrillation has only been investigated using auscultatory sphygmomanometry as reference method, which may be biased by arrhythmia as well. We performed a cross-sectional study in 102 patients (52 sinus rhythm, 50 atrial fibrillation) assessing the accuracy of an automated and validated oscillometric upper arm (M5 Professional, Omron) and wrist device (R5 Professional, Omron) to invasively assessed arterial pressure. Blood pressure values were calculated as the mean of 3 consecutive measurements. Systolic and diastolic blood pressure did not significantly differ in patients with sinus rhythm and atrial fibrillation, independent of the method of measurement (P>0.05 each). The within-subject variability of the oscillometric measurements was higher in patients with atrial fibrillation compared with sinus rhythm (P<0.01 each). The biases of systolic and diastolic blood pressure, however, did not significantly differ in presence or absence of atrial fibrillation in Bland-Altmann analysis (P>0.05 each). In conclusion, atrial fibrillation did not significantly affect the accuracy of oscillometric measurements, if 3 repeated measurements were performed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nephrology, Charité-Campus Benjamin Franklin, Hindenburgdamm 30, 12200 Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Nikolaos
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Pagonas
authors.forename: Sven
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Schmidt
authors.forename: Jörg
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Eysel
authors.forename: Friederike
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Compton
authors.forename: Clemens
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hoffmann
authors.forename: Felix
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Seibert
authors.forename: Justus
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hilpert
authors.forename: Carsten
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tschöpe
authors.forename: Walter
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zidek
authors.forename: Timm H
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Westhoff
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001281:Atrial Fibrillation / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000502:physiology*; D001795:Blood Pressure Determination / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D015924:Blood Pressure Monitors; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009991:Oscillometry
keywords: atrial fibrillation; blood pressure measurement; hypertension; oscillometry; sphygmomanometers