Hemodialysis treatment carries with it physiological stress. In our daily practice, data on blood pressure during dialysis is based on manual oscillometric automated readings taken every 20-30 minutes. However, it is unclear if these measurements are representative of the average blood pressure and what the changes in blood pressure are between measurements. We present our results with a new cuffless blood pressure device that uses pulse transient time for accurate minute-to-minute blood pressure.

Material and methods:

In this cross-sectional study, we compared the results of conventional cuff blood pressure measurements taken every 30 minutes during dialysis and continued blood pressure measurements by a noninvasive blood pressure device (S0MNOtouch NIBP) during the same time.

Results:

The study population comprised 10 children aged 7-18 years who had been on hemodialysis for 2-27 months. Of them, only 2 patients were receiving blood pressure medications. In 6 children, both manual cuff systolic and diastolic blood pressure were significantly lower and in one, only systolic blood pressure was lower than the continuous blood pressure measurement. Three out of 8 patients with normal cuff blood pressure had systolic hypertension before and after dialysis.

Conclusions:

In two-thirds of children, blood pressure during dialysis was significantly higher when measured every 20-30 minutes by cuff. This difference was not secondary to higher fluid removal, age or blood pressure before dialysis. Further blood pressure assessment studies in children are required.