Cuffless Blood Pressure: New Device for Hypertension
- A novel cuffless device that automatically measures blood pressure at the wrist could revolutionize hypertension care.
- The study, spearheaded by a Brigham and Women's Hospital investigator, assessed a monitor using optical sensors for continuous, non-disruptive blood pressure recording.Findings published in Frontiers in Medicine suggest...
- current medical guidelines emphasize at-home blood pressure monitoring for hypertension management.
Cuffless Wrist Monitor Improves Hypertension Risk Assessment
A novel cuffless device that automatically measures blood pressure at the wrist could revolutionize hypertension care. The device generates numerous readings daily, aiding clinicians in determining cardiovascular risk and improving the management of high blood pressure, a condition affecting one in two adults.
The study, spearheaded by a Brigham and Women’s Hospital investigator, assessed a monitor using optical sensors for continuous, non-disruptive blood pressure recording.Findings published in Frontiers in Medicine suggest cuffless monitors offer promising advancements in hypertension diagnosis, risk assessment, and management.
current medical guidelines emphasize at-home blood pressure monitoring for hypertension management. Traditional in-office readings can be misleading due to “white coat hypertension” or “masked hypertension.”
Time-in-target-range (TTR), reflecting how frequently enough blood pressure remains within a normal range, is emerging as a key indicator of cardiovascular risk. Though, accurately measuring TTR requires frequent readings, frequently enough impractical with standard blood pressure cuffs.
Naomi Fisher, MD, of Brigham and Women’s Hospital, said cuffless devices could revolutionize hypertension management by providing more frequent readings, day and night, to confirm diagnoses and guide medication adjustments.
“The successful management of hypertension depends on patients being able to take blood pressure measurements easily and reliably outside of the traditional doctor’s office setting,” Fisher said.
Fisher collaborated with Aktiia SA, a Swiss biotechnology company, analyzing over 2.2 million blood pressure readings from 5,189 participants in Europe and the U.K. who wore Aktiia’s cuffless wrist monitor. The device averaged 29 readings per day, far exceeding the typical four readings recommended with home devices. Over 15 days, researchers collected an average of 434 readings per patient.
the study revealed that traditional measurement methods misclassified hypertension risk in 26% to 45% of subjects compared to TTR.Continuous monitoring for seven days is necessary for 90% accuracy in hypertension risk classification,a feat achievable with cuffless monitors.
While not yet FDA-approved, the studied cuffless device is available over-the-counter in Europe and the U.K. Efforts to evaluate and standardize such devices in the U.S. are ongoing.
“For the first time, by using a cuffless device, we can collect continual out-of-office blood pressure readings and use these data to calculate a new metric, time-in-target-range, which shows great promise as a predictor of risk,” Fisher said.
What’s next
The future of hypertension management may involve widespread adoption of cuffless monitors, leading to more accurate risk assessments and personalized treatment plans for patients worldwide.