Oscillometric devices vs. arterial Doppler in measuring the ankle-arm index for the diagnosis of peripheral arterial disease

Introduction

Peripheral arterial disease is a marker of vascular damage that is diagnosed by measuring the ankle-brachial index. The aim of this study was to determine the validity and agreement of the MESI ABPI-MD and Microlife WatchBP Office-ABI oscillometric devices with respect to the gold standard arterial Doppler.

Materials and methods

Observational, cross-sectional, descriptive study of inpatients who underwent ABI measurement with the three devices. Values are considered normal between 1–1.4, indeterminate between 0.91–0.99 and pathological ≤0.9 and >1.4.

Results

A total of 187 patients (54.4% male) with a mean age of 66 years were included. The Doppler results were inferior to those of the oscillometric devices (median [IQR] 1.1 [0.2] vs. 1.2 [0.2], p < 0.05), with no significant differences between the automated devices (p = 0.29 for the right lower limb and p = 0.342 for the left lower limb). Both devices had high specificity (96.5–99.2%) and low sensitivity (29.5–45.4%). The evaluation of the results was good-moderate for MESI and moderate for Microlife. The agreement between the two was acceptable-moderate.

Conclusion

Automated oscillometric devices could be useful in asymptomatic patients as an alternative to arterial Doppler.