Inter- and intraindividual variation in Doppler ultrasonic indirect blood pressure measurements in healthy cats

• Published in: Journal of veterinary internal medicine Vol. 13; no. 4; pp. 314 - 318
• Main Authors: Sparkes, A H, Caney, S M, King, M C, Gruffydd-Jones, T J
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 01.07.1999
• Subjects: Animals; Blood Pressure; Blood Pressure Determination - veterinary; Cats; Female; Hypertension - diagnosis; Hypertension - veterinary; Male; Reference Values; Reproducibility of Results; Sphygmomanometers; Ultrasonography, Doppler - veterinary
• ISSN: 0891-6640
• DOI: 10.1892/0891-6640(1999)013<0314:iaivid>2.3.co;2

This study was undertaken to evaluate reference ranges for systolic blood pressure (SBP) in cats under conditions mimicking a clinical setting. SBP was measured in 50 healthy adult cats of various ages (range, 1.5-16 years) and body weights (range, 2.2-6.1 kg) by Doppler ultrasonic sphygmomanometry. A cuff width of 2.5 cm was used, placed on the left antebrachium, and this represented a mean cuff width of 35% limb circumference (range, 31-42%). The mean (+/-SD) SBP in the 50 cats was 162 +/- 19 mm Hg (range 124-210), with only 1 cat having a SBP > or = 200 mm Hg. No significant difference (P > .05) in SBP was found between male and female cats, and no significant correlation was found between SBP and age (r(s) = 0.075) or body weight (r(s) = 0.007). Further studies in some of these cats indicated that allowing a period of 10 minutes for acclimatization to the environment where SBP was recorded resulted in a significant decrease in SBP from 176 +/- 17 to 157 +/- 21 mm Hg (n = 7) and that use of a 3.3-cm-width cuff resulted in a significant decrease in measured SBP from 168 +/- 13 to 164 +/- 13 mm Hg (n = 10). Reproducibility of SBP measurements was evaluated in 7 cats by assessing SBP 7 times at intervals of > or = 24 hours over a 10-day period. These 7 cats had a low intraindividual coefficient of variation of SBP measurements (CV < or = 7.9%) although 2 of the 7 cats had SBP values > 200 mm Hg on at least 1 occasion.