August 1, 1990American Journal of Epidemiology
The Accuracy and Precision of the Accutracker Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitor
Why the study?
Does the Accutracker ambulatory blood pressure monitor provide accurate and precise blood pressure measurements compared to manual observers in ambulatory subjects?
Population
120 ambulatory subjects at The Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions
Comparison
Accutracker ambulatory blood pressure monitor vs Manual blood pressure measurement by observers
Design
Cross-sectional, Order of measurements determined at random, Independently…
Authors
Discussion
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Implication
Accutracker may suffice for most ambulatory monitoring; leaves open validation needs at high pressures and in older adults.
Key Points
- To assess the accuracy and precision of the Accutracker ambulatory blood pressure monitor compared to standard manual auscultatory measurements.
- Obtained five serial resting blood pressure measurements in N=120 ambulatory subjects at The Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions in 1987.
- Assigned measurement order at random across two Accutrackers and two manual observers, with the fourth observer taking a replicate measurement.
- Evaluated measurement differences, precision, and associations with patient characteristics using pairwise comparisons, scatter plots, and bivariate and multivariate regression analyses.
- Mean differences between Accutracker and manual measurements were less than 3 mmHg for both systolic and diastolic blood pressure across all pairwise comparisons.
- Both Accutrackers systematically underestimated high systolic and diastolic blood pressures, with increased age significantly associated with greater systolic underestimation in multivariate analyses.
- Precision did not differ significantly among the two automated devices and two manual observers.
Structured PICO
Does the Accutracker ambulatory blood pressure monitor provide accurate and precise blood pressure measurements compared to manual observers in ambulatory subjects?
P
Population
120 ambulatory subjects at The Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions
I
Intervention
Accutracker ambulatory blood pressure monitor
C
Comparator
Manual blood pressure measurement by observers
O
Outcome
Accuracy and precision of blood pressure measurements (mean difference between Accutracker and manual measurements)surrogate
The Accutracker ambulatory blood pressure monitor provides generally accurate and precise measurements, but tends to underestimate blood pressure at higher levels and in older patients.
Cite This Study
Appel et al. (1990) studied this question.