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A new portable device (measuring 14 X 11 X 5 cm, weighing 600 g) has been developed for recording ambulatory intra-arterial blood pressure (BP) and R-R intervals on the electrocardiogram at 10 sec intervals throughout a 24 hour period and a computer system for analysis of the 8,640 digital recordings of systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP) and heart rate (HR). Using this device, SBP, DBP and HR recordings were obtained in 12 normotensive patients and 37 patients with essential hypertension (of whom 19 presented in WHO Stage I and 18 in WHO Stage II). The 24-hour BP variation (SD) increased with increasing 24 hour mean BP but there was no difference of statistical significance in SD/mean among the 3 groups. There was a good correlation (r = 0.70 to 0.94) between SBP and DBP during 24 hours. The average of A in the linear regression equation, SBP = A X DBP +B, was greatest for patients with WHO Stage I and the average of 24-hour HR was highest for this group. The results suggested that these patients were in a hyperdynamic cardiac state. The new portable SBP-DBP-HR recorder is easy and simple to use and has the advantage of being low-cost, and therefore will be useful in clinical applications.
Tochikubo et al. (Wed,) studied this question.