• Z U Arfeen, N J Maran, E J Simon, and J H McClure.
• Department of Anaesthetics, Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.
• Int J Obstet Anesth. 1996 Jul 1; 5 (3): 168-71.

AbstractWe compared two types of automatic non-invasive blood pressure measuring device with sphygmomanometey in 47 normotensive and 38 hypertensive women in the third trimester of pregnancy. An automatic oscillometric device (Accutor) and a volume-clamp device (Finapres) significantly underestimated the diastolic pressure as measured by the fourth Korotkoff sound using a Hawksley random zero sphygmomanometer. The mean difference between the sphygmomanometer and Accutor measurement of diastolic blood pressure was +3.1 mmHg in the normotensive women and +8.3 mmHg in the hypertensive women (P = 0.001). The mean difference between the sphygmomanometer and Finapres measurement of diastolic blood pressure was +6.1 mmHg in the normotensive women and +11.5 mmHg in hypertensive women (P = 0.003). The increased use of continuous non-invasive devices to monitor blood pressure in women with hypertension should be accompanied by sound knowledge of their limitations in this group of patients.

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