title: Measurement with an automated oscillometric wrist device with position sensor leads to lower values than measurements obtained with an automated oscillometric arm device from the same manufacturer in elderly persons.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Home blood pressure (BP) monitoring is recommended by several clinical guidelines and has been shown to be feasible in elderly persons. Wrist manometers have recently been proposed for such home BP measurement, but their accuracy has not been previously assessed in elderly patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  Forty-eight participants (33 women and 15 men, mean age 81.3±8.0 years) had their BP measured with a wrist device with position sensor and an arm device in random order in a sitting position.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Average BP measurements were consistently lower with the wrist than arm device for systolic BP (120.1±2.2 vs. 130.5±2.2 mmHg, P<0.001, means±SD) and diastolic BP (66.0±1.3 vs. 69.7±1.3 mmHg, P<0.001). Moreover, a 10 mmHg or greater difference between the arm and wrist device was observed in 54.2 and 18.8% of systolic and diastolic measures, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Compared with the arm device, the wrist device with position sensor systematically underestimated systolic as well as diastolic BP. The magnitude of the difference is clinically significant and questions the use of the wrist device to monitor BP in elderly persons. This study points to the need to validate BP measuring devices in all age groups, including in elderly persons.
authors.affiliation: aDepartment of Medicine, Service of Geriatric Medicine and Geriatric Rehabilitation bDepartment of Training and Research, Clinical Research Center cDepartment of Medicine, Division of Clinical Pathophysiology, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois and University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Céline
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Guggiari
authors.forename: Christophe
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Büla
authors.forename: Katia
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Iglesias
authors.forename: Bernard
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Waeber
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001132:Arm / Q000502:physiology; D001794:Blood Pressure; D018660:Blood Pressure Monitoring, Ambulatory / Q000295:instrumentation*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008365:Manometry / Q000295:instrumentation; D009991:Oscillometry / Q000295:instrumentation; D014953:Wrist / Q000502:physiology