Abstract

SANTOS, Mónica  and  GOMES, Cláudia. Validity of arterial blood pressure measurement: theoretical review. Rev. Enf. Ref. [online]. 2010, vol.serIII, n.1, pp.119-124. ISSN 0874-0283.

Arterial hypertension is one of the most important public health problems, especially in developed countries. It is reasonably common, easy to diagnose and has a limited prognosis when not treated. The research was done using the keywords: validation, accuracy, blood pressure measurement, reproducibility, sphygmomanometer, mercury, oscillometer e dinamap” in “Academic Search Premier, Sport diskus and Medline”; selecting the articles by methodology, relevance and publication date. The “gold standard” instrument is the sphygmomanometer; however, mercury is toxic, and so it must be substituted by other technology. In addition, 50% of sphygmomanometers are not in good condition for clinical use. Cuffs smaller than necessary over-estimate arterial blood pressure. It seems that 23% of health professionals have never calibrated the sphygmomanometer and 40% of the others did not remember when they did this; in 2/3 this situation has continued for longer than one year, despite being cheap and simple. Annual calibration is recommended.

Keywords : validity; accuracy; blood pressure determination; sphygmomanometer.

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