Hypertension is one of the most common health conditions in modern society. Accurate blood pressure monitoring in free-living conditions is important for the precise diagnosis and management of hypertension. In tandem with the advances in wearable and ubiquitous technologies, a medical-grade wearable blood pressure monitor--Omron HeartGuide wrist watch--has recently entered the consumer market.It uses the same mechanism as the upper arm blood pressure monitors and has been calibrated in laboratory settings. Nevertheless, its accuracy "in the wild" has not been investigated. This study aims to investigate the accuracy of the HeartGuide against a medical-grade upper arm blood pressure monitor HEM-1022 in free-living environments. Analysis results suggest that the HeartGuide significantly underestimated systolic pressure and diastolic pressure by an average of 16 mmHg and 6 mmHg respectively. Lower discrepancy between the two devices on diastolic pressure was observed when diastolic pressure increased. In addition, the two devices agreed well on heart rate readings. We also found that device accuracy was related to systolic pressure, heart rate, body temperature and ambient temperature, but was not related salivary cortisol level, diastolic pressure, ambient humidity and air pressure.
Authors: Zilu Liang (Kyoto University of Advanced Science), Mario Chapa-Martell (Silver Egg Technology),
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