LAUSR

OBJECTIVE Automated cuff blood pressure (BP) devices are widely used for ambulatory, home, and office BP measurement. However, an automated device, which is accurate in the general adult population may be inaccurate in some special populations. A 2018 Collaborative Statement by the US Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation, the European Society of Hypertension, and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) considered three special populations requiring separate validation (children, pregnancy, and atrial fibrillation). An ISO Task Group was appointed to identify evidence for additional special populations. METHOD Evidence on potential special populations was identified from the STRIDE BP database, which performs systematic PubMed searches for published validation studies of automated cuff BP monitors. Devices that passed in a general population, but failed in potential special populations were identified. RESULTS Of 338 publications (549 validations, 348 devices) in the STRIDE BP database, 29 publications (38 validations, 25 devices) involved four potential special populations: (i) age 12-18 years: three of seven devices failed but passed in a general population; (ii) age more than 65 years: one of 11 devices failed but passed in a general population; (iii) diabetes type-2: four devices (all passed); (iv) chronic kidney disease: two of seven devices failed but passed in a general population. CONCLUSION Some evidence suggest that the automated cuff BP devices may have different accuracy in adolescents and in patients with chronic kidney disease than in the general population. More research is needed to confirm these findings and investigate other potential special populations.