Screening for hypertension in adults - the use of tonometric blood pressure monitoring.

OBJECTIVES: Arterial hypertension increases the risk of developing cardiovascular disease. Reliable screening tools for diagnosing hypertension are important to ensure correct risk stratification of subjects. In this study, we aimed to analyse if a wrist-worn device using a tonometric technique for measuring of 24-hour blood pressure could be used to diagnose hypertension and non-dipping. A conventional device using oscillometric measurements was used as golden standard. Secondary aim was to compare the degree of discomfort related to monitoring with the two devices.

METHODS: In 89 subjects with a history of normal blood pressure and naive to ambulatory BP monitoring (ABPM), 24-hour ABPM was measured simultaneously with A&D TM2430 (oscillometric technique) and BPro (tonometric technique).

RESULTS: When comparing measurements from the two devices, we found that the tonometric device misclassified 46% of hypertensive subjects and 69% of non-dippers. The tonometric device measured significantly lower systolic 24-hour and daytime blood pressure. The subjects reported less discomfort related to the tonometric than the oscillometric device.

CONCLUSION: Despite less discomfort related to usage of the tonometric device for 24-hour blood pressure monitoring compared to an oscillometric device, misclassification of hypertension and non-dipping makes the tonometric device inappropriate as a screening instrument.