Comparison of the brachial and the radial measurement values measured by the digital devices and mercury sphygmomanometer

Abstract

Objective: Accurate blood pressure monitoring is essential for the diagnosis and management of hypertension.

Material-Method: We aim to assess the clinical evaluation of the blood pressure readings obtained by using three different brachial and three different radial Oscillometric Blood Pressure Monitors (OBP) and compared them with the manual brachial Mercury Column Auscultatory device (MCA) which is used for reference readings. We analyzed the differences of the blood pressure readings according to age, gender and Body Mass Index (BMI) in 110 hypertensive and 100 normotensive individuals. We have noted a difference of >5mmHg between the measurements as clinically significant.

Results: A total of 210 participants (mean age 53.77±15.31 years) of which 51.9% (n=109) were female were enrolled in the research,. There was no significant difference between the systolic blood pressure (SBP) measurements with the MCA device and the OBP wrist monitor in normotensive subjects. A significant e clinical and statistical difference was observed between the diastolic blood pressure (DBP) measurings with the OBP wrist monitors and MCA devices in the normotensive group. In the hypertensive group a significant difference between the DBP with the MCA device and OBP wrist monitors was noted, however there was no marked clinical difference. There was no clinical significant difference between the readings with the MCA and OBP according to age, gender and BMI. There was a significantly strong positive correlation between the measurements with the MCA and OBP from the arm and the wrist.

Conclusion: In the diagnosis and management of hypertension, unlike MCA reference devices, OBP monitors provide mora accurate and correlated results in the hypertensive patients compared to normotensive individuals.