Introduction: Peripheral and central blood pressures are parameters of arterial stiffness and important cardiovascular risk markers. Today, there are non-invasive methods that measure these pressures.
Aim: To validate the non-invasive oscillometric method, compared with invasive pressure measurements obtained by cardiac catheterization.
Methods: An open, prospective cohort clinical study in 100 patients, 64 ± 11 years old. The measurement of peripheral and central blood pressures obtained using the Arteriograph® system oscillometric method, (TensioMed, Budapest-Hungary, Ltd.) was validated in an adult population undergoing simultaneous, contralateral left cardiac catheterization (gold standard) using the radial technique, evaluating the correlation and agreement between the two methods. This study fulfils the latest standardized protocol for central blood pressure validation published by ARTERY Society.
Results: The pressures obtained with the Arteriograph® show a high correlation with the pressures measured using the gold standard. Overall, the intraclass correlation coefficient for brachial pressures was 0.80 (p < 0.001), and 0.91 (p < 0.001) for central pressures. The good agreement between the two methods was demonstrated equally by the Bland-Altman method and independent linear regressions for each variable.
Conclusions: The oscillometric noninvasive method employed is easy to use and valid for estimating hemodynamic variables such as central and peripheral arterial pressure, having good agreement and conformity with the gold standard in a different type of patients and conditions. This technique can help optimize cardiovascular assessment in primary and secondary prevention, enhance treatment in selected patients and it could be an important element for future cardiovascular prevention.
Keywords: Arterial stiffness; Blood pressure; Cardiac catheterization; Cardiovascular prevention.