Automated blood pressure measurement at rest and during exercise: evaluation of the motion tolerant CardioDyne NBP 2000

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to validate the use of a motion tolerant blood pressure monitor (CardioDyne NBP 2000, Luxtec, Worcester, MA) ) against standard manual auscultation at rest and during exercise. METHODS: Nineteen subjects (men, N = 9; women, N = 10) participated in the study (mean: age 21+/-1.2 yr; height 172.5+/-8 cm; mass 69.4+/-14.5 kg). Standard Bruce protocol treadmill exercise tests with 12-lead ECG and metabolic measures were administered to the subjects, with blood pressure measures taken at rest before, during, and after the exercise tests. Blood pressure by manual auscultatory sphygmomanometry and the CardioDyne NBP 2000 was recorded simultaneously in the same arm. Manual auscultatory blood pressure measures obtained by one experimenter were used as the criterion measure, and the data of two NBP 2000 audio reviewers were averaged for each data point recorded. RESULTS: Systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) via manual auscultation and the NBP 2000 "automatic" values were not significantly different and were highly correlated at rest and during exercise. Resting intraclass correlation SBP values were high (range 0.95 to 0.98), as were DBP intraclass correlation values (range 0.83 to 0.95). Exercise intraclass correlation SBP values ranged from 0.94 to 0.99, and DBP intraclass correlation values from 0.88 to 0.93. CONCLUSION: We conclude that the NBP 2000 is simple to use at rest and during exercise stress testing and provides accurate and verifiable information.