Skip to main content
. 2020 Aug 11;20(16):4484. doi: 10.3390/s20164484

Table 1.

Summary of current blood pressure measurement techniques and assessment of their potential for accurate yet continuous wearable blood pressure measurement devices.

SN Approach Technique Method Clinical Compliance All-Day Activity 1 Remarks/Usability
Periodicity 2 Accuracy 3 Wearable Wireless
1.0 Invasive Single/Multisensory Arterial Catheter Continuous 4 [52,53] Gold Standard [67,68] N/A 5 N/A

  • Free of Operator Bias.

  • Requires Experts/Clinics or Hospitals.
2.0 Minimally Invasive Subcutaneous Blood Pressure Subcutaneous implantable PPG Beat by Beat 6 [69] Controversial [75] N/A N/A

  • Free of Operator Bias.

  • Requires Experts/Clinics or Hospitals.
3.0 Non-invasive Full Occlusion Auscultatory Intermittent 7 [80] Gold Standard [78] Can Be 8 Can Be • Operator Bias and White Coat Effect [6].
Oscillometry Intermittent [80] Good [76] Can Be Can Be • Affected by Artery Stiffness and Age [76].
Palpatory Intermittent [79] Poor 9 [79] Can Be Can Be • Operator Bias (i.e., Radial Pulse) [79]
Semi Occlusion Applanation Tonometry Continuous [105,106] Poor 10 [105,106] Can Be Can Be

  • Depends on Artery Location.

  • [105,106]
Volume Clamp Continuous [107,108,109] Controversial [110,111,112,113] Yes Can Be • Complex Calibration may Lead to Overestimation of Blood Pressure [118].
Blood Flow Beat by Beat [107] Controversial [107] Yes Yes • Use of Contact Ultrasound Sensor [107]
Non-Occlusion Pulse Wave Beat by Beat [122] Controversial [141] Yes 11 Yes • Lack of changes in physiological factors [e.g., Blood Viscosity] [142].
Stroke Volume Beat by Beat 12 [123] Controversial [139] Yes Yes • Complex Calibration Due to Physiological Artefacts [108,140].
Blood Flow 13 Beat by Beat [121] Controversial [127,128] Yes Yes • Needs to be further developed [127,128]

1 All Day Activity: Provides minimum capabilities for seamless 24/7 monitoring; 2 Periodicity: Provides information about blood pressure waveform; 3 Accuracy: Indicates the accuracy of blood pressure values when compared against an arterial catheter method; 4 Continuous: Provides a continuous blood pressure waveform; 5 N/A: Not Applicable; 6 Beat by Beat: Provides a single blood pressure value per heartbeat; 7 Intermittent: Provides an intermittent measurement of blood pressure waveform; 8 Can Be: it is not practical as it causes irritable contact; 9 Palpatory: Except for Systolic Pressure, it is difficult to measure diastolic pressure; 10 Applanation Tonometry: Except for eye tonometer, it is generally considered poor; 11 Yes: wearable, but this may affect accuracy due to motion/measurement artefacts; 12 Beat by Beat: this will depend on the method (e.g., O2 consumption); 13 Blood Flow: this includes arterial and venous blood pressure.