Blood Pressure Measurement Error in Children: Lessons in Measurement Reliability.

Background And Purpose: Blood pressure measurement represents the pressure exerted during heart ejection and filling. There are several ways to measure blood pressure and a valid measure is essential. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the approach to noninvasive blood pressure measurement in children.

Methods: Blood pressure measurements were taken using the automatic Phillips MP30 monitor and compared against Welch Allyn blood pressure cuffs with Medline manual sphygmomanometers.

Results: A total of 492 measurements were taken on 82 subjects, and they demonstrated comparability between automatic and manual devices.

Conclusions: Although our study indicated acceptable agreement between automatic and manual blood pressure measurement, it also revealed measurement error remains a concern, with sample size, study protocol, training, and environment all playing a role.