Introduction
Gestational hypertensive disease (GHD) complicates 10% of all
pregnancies.1-4 and is a major risk factor for
maternal and fetal morbidity and mortality.5,6.
Therefore, repeated blood pressure measurements are necessary for early
diagnosis of GHD and detection of progression.3,7-10For that reason, blood pressure monitoring during pregnancy is of high
importance.
Currently the gold standard for blood pressure monitoring during
pregnancy is aneroid office measurement.11 However, a
substantial part of the pregnant population suffering from ‘white coat
hypertension’ is unnecessarily closely monitored and treated for
hypertension.12,14(11) The use of home blood pressure
measurement (HBPM) may overcome this disadvantage.
Current guidelines recommend home blood pressure monitoring (HBPM) as a
more suitable alternative.13,15 It is already known
that pregnant patients are willing to undertake repeated
self-measurements16. Furthermore, HBPM can be
cost-effective when leading to less outpatient
visits17 and is a better predictor for cardiovascular
morbidity and mortality than office blood pressure measurement (OBPM) in
non-pregnant subjects.14 However, little is known
about HBPM during pregnancy.16A clinical evaluation of an
easy-to-use device during pregnancy is still
lacking.18-20
The Cloud DX connected HealthKit Pulsewave wrist cuff blood pressure
monitor (CDXP) is a commercially available monitor that has yet not been
evaluated in a pregnant population, but could be exactly the kind of
modern device that has potential for the use in HBPM during pregnancy.
The aim of this study was to evaluate the CDXP in a clinical setting, to
assess its performance at home and to assess user experience.