Rev Lat Am Enferm
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To avoid inaccurate blood pressure (BP) readings, the American Heart Association (AHA) recommends cuff width (CW) encircling 40% of the arm circumference (AC) and cuff length at least 80-100%. This study aimed to identify inpatients AC, the corresponding cuff size and the cuff size availability. In total, 81 AC were measured in the right arm. ⋯ The standard cuff 12 by 23 cm, the only size available in the clinics, was appropriate for only 17.3% of the subjects, whose AC varied between 32.5 and 34.3 cm. The lack of availability of different cuff sizes continues being a challenging problem to be faced. The standard cuff available, 12 cm large, did not fit 82.7% of the identified AC, resulting in over or underestimated BP registers.