Validation of a new piezo-electronic device for non-invasive measurement of arterial pulse wave velocity according to the artery society guidelines

• Arterial stiffness independently predicts cardiovascular events.
• Measurement of PWV is recommended for the evaluation of subjects at risk.
• The availability of properly validated devices for PWV measurement is crucial.
• In this study, we validated a new PWV measurement device.

Our aim was to validate a new device for pulse wave velocity (PWV) measurement – Aortic according to the recommendations of the Artery Society and using SphygmoCor as the comparator device.Methods85 subjects 18–80 years-old from both sexes were included, divided into 3 age-groups: <30, 30–60 and >60 years (minimum of 25 individuals per group) and with an equal number of hypertensive and normotensive subjects per group. Weight, height, blood pressure (BP) and PWV were assessed, performing 6 PWV determinations per subject: 3 with Aortic and 3 with SphygmoCor, in an alternate fashion. The Bland–Altman method was used to establish the level of agreement between the two devices.ResultsPWV was 6.96 (±1.84) and 7 (±1.54) m/s with Aortic and SphygmoCor, respectively, showing a high correlation: r = 0.89, p < 0.001. Applying the Bland–Altman method, the mean difference between devices was 0.02 (±0.84) m/s, which is considered an excellent level of agreement. Of the study population, 75.3% (n = 64), 15.3% (n = 13) and 9.4% (n = 8) reached an excellent (mean difference ≤0.5 ± 0.8 m/s), acceptable (mean difference ≤1.0 ± 1.5 m/s) and poor (mean difference ≥ 1.0 ± 1.5 m/s) level of agreement, respectively.ConclusionAortic showed an excellent level of agreement with SphygmoCor, the reference method, according to the Artery Society recommendations for PWV measurement. This was observed particularly for lower PWV values.