Comparison of blood pressure measurements on clothed arm and forearm

ABSTRACT

The aim was to evaluate the practice of measuring blood pressure on a clothed arm or on the forearm in circumstances when it is difficult to unclothe the upper arm. In a hundred volunteer medical students [19 to 24 year old, 9 females and 91 males], measurements were made on the bare upper arms, clothed upper arms and bare forearms and the results compared. There were no significant differences between the bare and the clothed arm measurements in systolic [114.7 [SD 10] versus 115.6 [SD 10.5]] nor diastolic pressures [71.2 [8.3] versus 72.3 [8.3]]. Measurements of diastolic pressure in the forearm was not possible in many subjects because the sounds could not be heard. The systolic pressure by palpation was significantly lower than in the upper arm [95.5 [SD 26.2] versus 113.4 [11.4] with widely variable differences. Measuring blood pressure by auscultation on a clothed upper arm is satisfactory in circumstances when unclothing the upper arm is practically difficult