Comparison of cuff-based and cuffless continuous blood pressure measurements in children and adolescents

Objective: In recent times, new methods of blood pressure measurements have been introduced, including cuffless blood pressure (BP) measurement device using pulse transit time (PTT) for calculation of BP values. However, it is still unknown how values obtained with a new cuffless device compare with standard ambulatory measurements in children. The main aim of the study was to investigate whether BP values measured by a cuffless PTT device are comparable with measurements by a standard upper arm cuff-based BP device.

Methods: Thirty children were prospectively included. Blood pressure measurements using the cuffless device (Somnotouch-NIBP) and cuff-based standard device (Omron 907) were performed simultaneously on the left and right arm.

Results: Mean systolic BP of the standard measurements was 123,47 ± 14,91 mmHg and 127,48 ± 15,98 mmHg (p < .001) measured by cuffless method. Mean diastolic BP of the standard ABPM measurements was 66,88 ± 11,86 mmHg and 68,52 ± 12,36 mmHg (p < .001). There were significant positive correlations between standard and cuffless measurements.

Conclusion: The results show that the created PWV-BP function produces a significant correlation between BP derived from the PWV and the SBP measured by sphygmomanometry. When applying this device in clinical practice, one may keep in mind that the reported mean values over 24 hours, awake and asleep time are not directly interchangeable with cuff-based standard 24-hour BP values. The measured BP values were higher by the new technique. Although differences in SBP between both methods reached values up to 20 mmHg, we think that the development of a cuffless BP monitoring system will provide novel solutions in various medical situations.