Standardization of Blood Pressure Readings

To the Editor:— The report of the Committ[ill] for the standardization of Blood Pressure Readings app[ill] [ill] American Heart Association and by the Cardiac Society of Great Britain and Ireland recently appeared inThe Journal(July 22, p. 294). The recommendations embodied in the report are excellent except for those of the American committee relative to diastolic pressure readings. The committees agree that "with continued deflation of the cuff, the point at which the sounds suddenly become dull and muffled should be known as the diastolic pressure." However, the American committee recommends that "if there is a difference between that point and the level at which the sounds completely disappear... the latter reading should be regarded also as the diastolic pressure." The British committee, on the other hand, "believes that except in aortic regurgitation it is nearly always possible to decide the point at which the change comes and this