Simultaneous double arm automated blood pressure measurement for the screening of subjects with potential vascular disease: a community study

Stefano Omboni*, Willem J. Verberk

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

Purpose: Hypertension guidelines recommend measuring blood pressure (BP) on both arms, since an abnormal inter-arm difference (IAD) in BP is associated with an increased risk of vascular abnormalities and cardiovascular (CV) disease. We tested whether an automatic oscillometric BP monitor allowing simultaneous both arm BP measurement might be effective for screening of subjects with potential vascular disease. Materials and methods: 220 consecutive subjects from an unselected sample of individuals of a small Italian community were screened using an automated upper-arm electronic BP monitor (Microlife WatchBP Office). Seated BP was measured in triplicate at 1 min interval. Demographic and clinical data were collected prior to any BP measurement. An average IAD difference >20 mmHg for systolic (S) and/or >10 mmHg for diastolic (D) BP was considered abnormal. Results: In 9 subjects (4.1%) an abnormal IAD was found, with lower BPs measured in the non-dominant arm (147 +/- 28/78 +/- 9 vs. 154 +/- 15/92 +/- 11 mmHg dominant, p

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)15-22
Number of pages8
JournalBlood Pressure
Volume28
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2 Jan 2019

Keywords

  • Blood pressure measurement
  • DIFFERENCE
  • GUIDELINES
  • HOME
  • HYPERTENSION
  • Italy
  • MICROLIFE WATCHBP OFFICE
  • SOCIETY
  • cardiovascular disease
  • hypertension
  • inter-arm difference in blood pressure
  • ADULTS
  • ASSOCIATION

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