Concordance between automated oscillometric measurement of ankle-brachial index and traditional measurement by eco-Doppler in patients without peripheral artery disease.

AIM

To evaluate the concordance between automated oscillometric measurement (WatchBP® Office ABI) of the ankle- brachial index (ABI) and the traditional measurement by eco-Doppler in a Spanish population without peripheral artery disease attended in primary care.

METHODS

The ABI was determined by both methods in a general population aged ≥ 18 years, from the RICARTO study. The intraclass correlation coefficient was calculated to assess the concordance between both techniques and the Bland-Altman plot was determined to analyze the agreement between them.

RESULTS

A total of 322 subjects (mean age 47.7 ± 16.0 years; 54.3% women) were included in the study. With regard to cardiovascular risk factors, 70.5% of subjects had dyslipidemia, 26.7% hypertension, 24.8% obesity, 8.4% diabetes and 25.5% were smokers. Mean ABI measured by eco-Doppler and the automated method were 1.17 ± 0.1 and 1.2 ± 0.1, respectively (mean differences - 0.03 ± 0.09; p < 0.001). The Pearson correlation coefficient and the intraclass correlation coefficient were in both cases 0.70.

CONCLUSIONS

The automated oscillometric measurement of ABI is a reliable and useful alternative to conventional eco-Doppler determination in the general population without peripheral artery disease attended in primary care.