Oscillometric pulse wave velocity estimated via the Mobil-O-Graph shows excellent accuracy in children, adolescents and young adults: an invasive validation study

Aims: Increased arterial stiffness, measured as arterial pulse wave velocity (PWV) is associated with an elevated cardiovascular risk. Although noninvasive PWV measurement methods have been validated by invasive measurement, there is little such data on pediatric patients. The purpose of this study was to ‘fill the gap’ by validating PWV obtained by Mobil-O-Graph in children, adolescents in comparison to young adults. Methods: Sixty patients (25 male, mean age 16.6 years; range 3–35 years) were included in this study. Fifty-one patients underwent cardiac catheterization after a heart transplantation (HTX) and nine for interventional atrial septal defect-closure. Specific invasive pulse wave velocities were assessed for the ascending aorta (aPWV) and entire central aorta (cPWV). These invasive PWV results were compared to simultaneously measured brachial cuff readings using Mobil-O-Graph (oPWV) stratified by age in two groups (PEDIATRICS <18 years|ADULTS ≥18 years). Results: Correlation analysis showed a positive linear relation between both invasive PWV measurements and the oPWV in all ages (cPWV/oPWV: r = 0.417, aPWV/oPWV: r = 0.628; P < 0.001). The oPWV data agreed better with the aPWV in mean-value comparisons and correlations with mean difference in PEDIATRICS was 0.41 ± 0.41 m/s (95% confidence interval 0.27–0.55). We also found the cPWV to be faster than the aPWV particularly in adults. In addition, cPWV correlated closer with age ( r = 0.393, P < 0.05). Conclusion: Estimated oPWV using the Mobil-O-Graph demonstrated excellent accuracy in adults and pediatric patients. Therefore, the Mobil-O-Graph can be implemented as an ambulatory PWV measuring tool for pediatric cardiovascular risk stratification. Clinical Trial Registration: German clinical trial registration, DRKS00015066.