Skip to main content
NCBI home page
British Medical Journal (Clinical Research Ed.) logoLink to British Medical Journal (Clinical Research Ed.)
. 1984 May 26;288(6430):1574–1575. doi: 10.1136/bmj.288.6430.1574

Influence of arm position on measurement of blood pressure.

J Webster, D Newnham, J C Petrie, H G Lovell
PMCID: PMC1441228  PMID: 6426648

Abstract

A series of measurements of blood pressure in normotensive and hypertensive subjects showed that measurements made with a sphygmomanometer with the arm dependent by the side were consistently higher than those made with the arm horizontal at heart level. The mean difference in a group of 90 hypertensive outpatients was 11/12 mm Hg. Failure to appreciate the importance of arm position may lead to erroneous measurements of blood pressure. This has important implications for clinical practice and research.

Full text

PDF
1574

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Conceiçao S., Ward M. K., Kerr D. N. Defects in sphygmomanometers: an important source of error in blood pressure recording. Br Med J. 1976 Apr 10;1(6014):886–888. doi: 10.1136/bmj.1.6014.886. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Hunyor S. N., Flynn J. M., Cochineas C. Comparison of performance of various sphygmomanometers with intra-arterial blood-pressure readings. Br Med J. 1978 Jul 15;2(6131):159–162. doi: 10.1136/bmj.2.6131.159. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. London K. Mainstreaming the adolescent mother. Issues Health Care Women. 1981 Jan-Feb;3(1):7–22. doi: 10.1080/07399338109515571. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. MITCHELL P. L., PARLIN R. W., BLACKBURN H. EFFECT OF VERTICAL DISPLACEMENT OF THE ARM ON INDIRECT BLOOD-PRESSURE MEASUREMENT. N Engl J Med. 1964 Jul 9;271:72–74. doi: 10.1056/NEJM196407092710204. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Maxwell M. H., Waks A. U., Schroth P. C., Karam M., Dornfeld L. P. Error in blood-pressure measurement due to incorrect cuff size in obese patients. Lancet. 1982 Jul 3;2(8288):33–36. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(82)91163-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Shaw A., Deehan C., Lenihan J. M. Sphygmomanometers: errors due to blocked vents. Br Med J. 1979 Mar 24;1(6166):789–790. doi: 10.1136/bmj.1.6166.789. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Short D. The diastolic dilemma. Br Med J. 1976 Sep 18;2(6037):685–686. doi: 10.1136/bmj.2.6037.685. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from British Medical Journal (Clinical research ed.) are provided here courtesy of BMJ Publishing Group

RESOURCES