Blood Pressure Measurement in Severely Obese Patients: Validation of the Forearm Approach in Different Arm Positions

5] Nevertheless, the reported prevalence of hypertension in severely obese patients is probably undermined by the technical challenges encountered with blood pressure measurement in this population. Indeed, accurate blood pressure measurement is challenging in the severely obese population; the upper arms being frequently short, large, and conical. 8-10 An upper-arm blood pressure measurement alternative, the forearm method, has recently been validated in severe obesity in the supine position. 11 This approach may be considered valid and comparable with the intra-arterial measure (gold standard). 11 Subsequent analyses conducted on the same set of patients revealed a high sensitivity (0.98) and a strong predictive positive value (0.93) of hypertension diagnosis with the forearm approach in the supine position. 12 There are no validation studies or guidelines regarding blood pressure forearm measurements. Recently,