Journal of paediatrics and child health
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J Paediatr Child Health · May 2010
Agreement of invasive versus non-invasive blood pressure in preterm neonates is not dependent on birth weight or gestational age.
Blood pressure constitutes an important parameter in the assessment of the cardiovascular status in preterm infants. Invasive arterial blood pressure (IBP) is considered the 'gold-standard', but non-invasive blood pressure (NIBP) is used frequently in preterm infants. The aim of this prospective study was to compare mean IBP and mean NIBP arterial blood pressure measurements in three subsets of preterm infants (>1500 g; 1000-1500 g, and <1000 g, and >31 weeks, 28-31 weeks, and <28 weeks of gestation). ⋯ Although IBP monitoring is considered the 'gold standard', NIBP values showed good agreement with those obtained invasively irrespective of gestational age and birth weight. We conclude that NIBP monitoring constitutes an important parameter in the assessment of the cardiovascular status even in extremely low birth weight infants.