WatchBP technologies

AF is the most common sustained cardiac arrhythmia occurring in 5% of the population older than 65 years of age and in 14% among those older than 85 years. AF leads to a 5-fold higher risk of stroke and is responsible for 20% of all strokes. Many people have no symptoms from AF and therefore remain undiagnosed, whereas early treatment can reduce the risk of stroke by 68%.

WatchBP AFIB monitors  allow  AF screening during blood pressure measurement. The AF detection system has proven its accuracy, and  leads to detection of more new patients with AF when used in general clinical practice.

Guidelines recommend taking at least two blood pressure readings each time and average the measurements. 

Advantages of taking 3 consecutive measurements:
• More accurate blood pressure measurement.
• Three sequential measurements diminishes the influence of  a single deviating (high) reading.

Peripheral Arterial Disease (PAD) is an important cardiovascular risk that often remains undetected. Patients with PAD have a threefold higher risk of myocardial infarction, stroke and death. A recommended test for diagnosing PAD is performing ankle-arm measurements to assess the ankle brachial index (ABI). The WatchBP Office ABI has proven to be a fast, easy and reliable alternative for PAD screening with a Doppler device.

For use in e.g. elderly, obese and those with arrhythmia.

Central blood pressure is the pressure in the aorta that may better correlate with cardiovascular risk than upper arm blood pressure measurement because the aorta is more close to the heart and brains.

The WatchBP Office Central can accurately assess central blood pressure and  has been validated against intra-arterial blood pressure measurement.

Inter-Arm Difference (IAD) in blood pressure is an important cardiovascular risk predictor but also for general hypertension management it is important to know if a patient has a relevant blood pressure difference between both arms. Therefore, blood pressure must be measured in both arms at the first clinical visit.

Helps patients to perform 7-day self-measurement according to international well known blood pressure measurement guidelines (ESH / AHA / BHS).

• For measuring blood pressure during sleep.
• Helps to collect accurate day and night blood pressure measurements for a good overview of the daily blood pressure pattern.

Customize your ABPM according to your needs with additional, helpful technology features:
• Atrial Fibrillation (AF) detection
• Central blood pressure measurement

The software for all WatchBP devices is user friendly and allows easy data transfer and analysis. WatchBP software is free of charge to download direct from our website onto your computer.

Click here to download the latest software.

The pill-button can be used to record medication intake or to record an “event” that could influence blood pressure level.

Towards the end of 2015 the results of the Sprint-trial were published ^[1] which had a great impact in cardiovascular disease management. In the Sprint-trial, which is being called the “the biggest blood pressure study of modern times” the researchers used a special way of measuring blood pressure. They used a method called Automated Office Blood Pressure Measurement (AOBPM). For this, the patients were left alone in a room with an automated blood pressure monitor. Once the blood pressure monitor was activated, it started to countdown from 5 minutes to zero after which 3 blood pressure measurements were taken automatically,  with a 1 minute interval  between each reading. This is what we call the “Sprint algorithm”. After the publication of the trial we have received many requests for this algorithm from doctors all over the world. Therefore, we have decided to implement this in all WatchBP Office AFIB and WatchBP Office ABI devices.

Click here to see the Sprint-trial video

Pre-eclampsia is defined as new hypertension and substantial proteinuria after 20 weeks gestation. Due to the unpredictable nature of pre-eclampsia blood pressure must be constantly checked.

Most oscillometric blood pressure monitors underestimate blood pressure in pre-eclampsia and therefore must be specifically validated for this special patient group. The WatchBP Home allows pregnant women to measure their blood pressure at home which could reduce the number of hospital visits and may help to make motherhood safer.

Microlife blood pressure monitors are validated for blood pressure measurement in patients with diabetes. Patients with Diabetes Mellitus type 1 and 2 may have stiff arteries that can affect the blood pressure measurement. A recent  validation study in diabetes patients type 1 and 2 showed that the Microlife monitor is accurate when used in this patient group.

Patients with renal disease have a very high incidence of hypertension, paired with stiff (calcified) arteries. As automated measurements are often inaccurate in patients with stiff arteries, a special validation is required.

Currently, blood pressure measurement is an important part of routine paediatric physical examination. However, as children have a high respiration rate and have difficulties in sitting still, one needs a blood pressure monitor with a high quality algorithm that can filter out these artefacts. In addition, a wide cuff range is needed that covers very small to large arm circumferences. 

The Microlife WatchBP Office and O3 blood pressure monitors have proven to cover all these aspects and therefore can be recommended for children and adolescents aged 3 to 18 years old.

All automatic upper arm blood pressure monitors of Microlife and WatchBP Home series can be recommended for children and adolescents aged 12 to 18 years old.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) officially recommends using the WatchBP Home A during routine blood pressure measurement for all GP’s in the United Kingdom.

www.nice.org.uk/MTG13

[1] Wright JT, Jr., Williamson JD, Whelton PK, Snyder JK, Sink KM, Rocco MV, et al. A Randomized Trial of Intensive versus Standard Blood-Pressure Control. N Engl J Med. 2015;373(22):2103-16.