Continuous noninvasive blood pressure monitoring with wearable photoplethysmography

BACKGROUND – The Biobeat wrist monitor (BB-613W; Biobeat Technologies, Petah-Tikva, Israel) and the Biobeat chest monitor (BB-613P; Biobeat Technologies) are wearable solutions for continuous noninvasive blood pressure monitoring.OBJECTIVE(S) – We aimed to investigate the blood pressure measurement performance of the Biobeat wrist monitor and chest monitor after external calibration.DESIGN – A prospective method comparison study.SETTING – University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.PATIENTS – Fifty high-risk patients recovering from noncardiac surgery in an advanced postanaesthesia care unit.MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES – We compared blood pressure measurements from the Biobeat wrist monitor (BP_WRIST-ART) and the Biobeat chest monitor (BP_CHEST-ART) with intra-arterial blood pressure measurements (BP_ART). In addition, we aimed to compare blood pressure measurements from the Biobeat wrist monitor (BP_WRIST-OSCI) with those from an oscillometric upper-arm cuff (BP_OSCI). We used Bland–Altman analysis, four-quadrant plot and error grid analysis for statistical analysis.RESULTS – The mean of the differences ± standard deviation (95%-limits of agreement) between BP_WRIST-ART and BP_ART was 3 ± 11 mmHg (-19 to 25 mmHg) for mean blood pressure with a concordance rate to track 15-min blood pressure changes of 51%. The mean of the differences between BP_CHEST-ART and BP_ART was 3 ± 11 mmHg (-17 to 24 mmHg) for mean blood pressure with a concordance rate to track 15-min blood pressure changes of 61%. The mean of the differences between BP_WRIST-OSCI and BP_OSCI was 6 ± 11 mmHg (-16 to 27 mmHg) for mean blood pressure with a concordance rate to track 15-min blood pressure changes of 49%.CONCLUSIONS – Blood pressure measurements from the Biobeat wrist monitor and the Biobeat chest monitor did not show clinically acceptable agreement either with intra-arterial blood pressure measurements or with blood pressure measurements from an oscillometric upper-arm cuff in high-risk patients recovering from noncardiac surgery in an advanced postanaesthesia care unit.