Comparison of agreement between different measures of blood pressure in normotensive females

Abstract 

The aim of this study was to determine whether there are differences between nurse-taken blood pressure (BP), physician-taken BP, and automated device. BP was measured in 163 normotensive females. In a center for family planning and mother–child health, measurements were taken by a male physician and by a nurse and by using a validated automatic device. The difference between the systolic and diastolic BP recordings at the three measurement modalities was statistically significant (p < .001). BPs taken by the physician were markedly higher than the measurements taken by the nurse and the automated device. The results from this study show that systolic and diastolic BP taken using an automated device in normotensive females are significantly lower than the readings obtained by the physician and are almost identical to those taken by the nurse. Physicians should therefore not make any decisions based on BP measured manually during a first encounter and should rely on BP reported by well-trained observers or by validated automatic devices.