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Published on: February 7, 2014
Central aortic blood pressure, augmentation index, and reflected wave transit time: reproducibility and repeatability
Olga A Ageenkova1, Marina A Purygina
1Department of Therapy, Functional and Ultrasound Diagnostics, Postgraduate Training Faculty of Smolensk State Medical Academy, Smolensk, Russian Federation. olgamd2009@rambler.ru
Insights
Arterial stiffness measurement using BPLab with Vasotens technology shows excellent reproducibility and repeatability. This validated method aids in estimating clinical vascular risk for patients.
Area of Science:
- Cardiovascular Physiology
- Biomedical Engineering
- Clinical Diagnostics
Background:
- Arterial stiffness predicts mortality and stroke, particularly in hypertension and elderly diabetes.
- The oscillometric method, using specialized oscillogram processing, measures arterial stiffness parameters.
- Vasotens® technology is employed to measure central aortic systolic blood pressure, augmentation index, and reflected wave transit time.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the reproducibility and repeatability of arterial stiffness parameters measured by Vasotens® technology.
- To assess the reliability of the BPLab® system for clinical vascular risk estimation.
Main Methods:
- Ninety volunteers underwent anthropometric and hemodynamic measurements using the BPLab® 24-hour blood pressure monitor with Vasotens® technology.
- Measurements were taken in "office" mode by two observers over two consecutive days, at the same morning time.
- Device initialization was performed before each measurement cycle to ensure accuracy.
Main Results:
- No statistically significant differences were found in short-term repeatability and reproducibility for central aortic systolic blood pressure, augmentation index, and reflected wave transit time.
- Observer A showed SBP variations of 0.11 ± 7.53 mmHg and aortic SBP of 0.26 ± 6.11 mmHg.
- Observer B showed SBP variations of 0.14 ± 8.42 mmHg and aortic SBP of 0.2 ± 7.25 mmHg, with high consistency between observers and across days.
Conclusions:
- The BPLab® system, utilizing Vasotens® technology, demonstrates robust reproducibility and repeatability.
- This technology is suitable for reliable clinical vascular risk assessment.
- The findings support the use of this device in routine clinical practice for evaluating arterial stiffness.
Background:
The evidence suggests that arterial stiffness acts as an independent predictor of general as well as cardiovascular mortality, strokes in patients with arterial hypertension, type 2 diabetes mellitus in the elderly, and in the general population. The oscillometric method measures parameters of arterial stiffness by applying special methods of processing oscillograms. This is a study of the reproducibility and repeatability of central aortic systolic blood pressure (SBP), augmentation index, and reflected wave transit time measured by Vasotens(®) technology.
Methods:
Anthropometric and hemodynamic measurements for 90 volunteers were made by two observers using the 24-hour blood pressure monitoring system, BPLab(®), with Vasotens technology in "office" mode, over a period of two days and always at the same time in the morning. Initialization of the device was performed prior to each measurement cycle for each participant.
Results:
Analysis of short-term repeatability and reproducibility data for central aortic systolic blood pressure, reflected wave transit time, and augmentation index did not reveal any statistically significant differences. For observer A, SBP was 0.11 ± 7.53 mmHg and aortic SBP was 0.26 ± 6.11 mmHg; for observer B, SBP was 0.14 ± 8.42 and aortic SBP was 0.2 ± 7.25 mmHg. Short-term reproducibility for the different observers with averaging of both measurements was 0.36 ± 5.69 mmHg for SBP and 0.37 ± 6.7 mmHg for aortic SBP; the next day, repeatability for observer A was 0.52 ± 10.7 mmHg for SBP and 0.73 ± 8.98 mmHg for aortic SBP.
Conclusion:
BPLab with Vasotens technology has good reproducibility and repeatability, and can be recommended for clinical vascular risk estimation.
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