Auscultatory versus oscillometric measurement of blood pressure in octogenarians.

Background: Auscultatory measurement using a sphygmomanometer has been the predominant method for clinical estimation of blood pressure, but it is now rapidly being replaced by oscillometric measurement.

Objective: To compare blood pressure by auscultatory and oscillometric measurements in patients ≥ 80 years.

Method: 100 patients had blood pressure measured by auscultation with a sphygmomanometer and by an electronic device using the oscillometric method. For each patient the mean of two blood pressures with each method measured within 15 min were compared.

Results: The mean age of participants was 85.8 years; 55.8% were women. The correlation coefficient for systolic blood pressure was 0.88 and for diastolic 0.79. Differences between auscultatory and oscillometric values were less than 10 mmHg in 70.6% of systolic blood pressures and in 83.2% for diastolic. Arrhythmia and hypertension did not influence the results, and there was no correlation between the magnitude of the differences and the level of blood pressure.

Conclusion: Agreement between oscillometric and auscultatory measurements of blood pressure in octogenarians was found to be less than required by validation protocols. However, semi-automatic equipment, which is observer-independent, may be used even in the very elderly, particularly if multiple readings are performed.