Why the study?
Does forearm blood pressure measurement provide equivalent readings to upper-arm blood pressure measurement in acutely ill adults?
Does forearm blood pressure measurement provide equivalent readings to upper-arm blood pressure measurement in acutely ill adults?
Forearm and upper-arm oscillometric blood pressure measurements are not interchangeable in acutely ill adults, suggesting caution when the upper arm is inaccessible.
Caution advised for forearm BP in acutely ill adults; leaves open prospective validation of site-specific adjustments.
When patients' upper arms are not accessible and/or when cuffs do not fit large upper arms, the forearm site is often used for blood pressure (BP) measurement. The purpose of this study is to compare forearm and upper-arm BPs in 70 acutely ill adults, admitted to a community hospital's 14-bed ICU. Using Philips oscillometric monitors, three repeated measures of forearm and upper-arm BPs are obtained with head of bed flat and with head of bed elevated at 30 degrees. Arms are resting on the bed. Paired t tests show statistically significant differences in systolic BPs, diastolic BPs, and mean arterial pressures in the supine and head-elevated positions. Bland-Altman analyses indicate that forearm and upper-arm oscillometric BPs are not interchangeable in acutely ill adults.
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Schell et al. (2010) studied this question.
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