Validation of the optical Aktiia bracelet in different body positions for the persistent monitoring of blood pressure

Abstract

The diagnosis of hypertension and the adjustment of antihypertensive drugs are evolving from isolated measurements performed at the physician offices to the full phenotyping of patients in real-life conditions. Indeed, the strongest predictor of cardiovascular risk comes from night measurements. The aim of this study was to demonstrate that a wearable device (the Aktiia Bracelet) can accurately estimate BP in the most common body positions of daily life and thus become a candidate solution for the BP phenotyping of patients. We recruited 91 patients with BP ranging from low to hypertensive levels and compared BP values from the Aktiia Bracelet against auscultatory reference values for 4 weeks according to an extended ISO 81060-2 protocol. After initializing on day one, the observed means and standard deviations of differences for systolic BP were of 0.46 ± 7.75 mmHg in the sitting position, − 2.44 ± 10.15 mmHg in the lying, − 3.02 ± 6.10 mmHg in the sitting with the device on the lap, and − 0.62 ± 12.51 mmHg in the standing position. Differences for diastolic BP readings were respectively of 0.39 ± 6.86 mmHg, − 1.93 ± 7.65 mmHg, − 4.22 ± 6.56 mmHg and − 4.85 ± 9.11 mmHg. This study demonstrates that a wearable device can accurately estimate BP in the most common body positions compared to auscultation, although precision varies across positions. While wearable persistent BP monitors have the potential to facilitate the identification of individual BP phenotypes at scale, their prognostic value for cardiovascular events and its association with target organ damage will need cross-sectional and longitudinal studies. Deploying this technology at a community level may be also useful to drive public health interventions against the epidemy of hypertension.