Inaccuracies introduced by single width blood pressure cuffs

• Published in: Hypertension research Vol. 34; no. 2; pp. 209 - 211
• Main Authors: Andrews, Jeffrey C, DeWitt, Blake, Czerwien, Terry E, Bijelic, Miro, Latman, Neal S
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 01.02.2011
• Subjects: 631/443/1338/243; 692/699/75/593; 692/700/139; accuracy; Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; blood pressure; Blood Pressure Determination - instrumentation; Blood Pressure Determination - methods; Blood Pressure Determination - standards; blood pressure standards; Diagnostic Errors; Equipment Failure; Female; Geriatrics/Gerontology; Health Promotion and Disease Prevention; Humans; Hypertension - diagnosis; hypotension; Internal Medicine; Male; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Middle Aged; Obstetrics/Perinatology/Midwifery; original-article; Public Health; Young Adult; hypotension; blood pressure; accuracy; blood pressure standards

Blood pressure cuff dimensions directly affect accuracy of blood pressure measurements. For accurate blood pressure measurements, the width of the cuff must be proportional to arm circumference. A cuff that is too narrow results in falsely high blood pressure values, and a cuff that is too wide resu...