Skip to main content

Main menu

  • Home
  • Content
    • Current issue
    • Past issues
    • Early releases
    • Collections
    • Sections
    • Blog
    • Infographics & illustrations
    • Podcasts
    • COVID-19 articles
    • Obituary notices
  • Authors & Reviewers
    • Overview for authors
    • Submission guidelines
    • Submit a manuscript
    • Forms
    • Editorial process
    • Editorial policies
    • Peer review process
    • Publication fees
    • Reprint requests
    • Open access
    • Patient engagement
  • Physicians & Subscribers
    • Benefits for Canadian physicians
    • CPD Credits for CMA Members
    • Subscribe to CMAJ Print
    • Subscription prices
    • Obituary notices
  • Alerts
    • Email alerts
    • RSS
  • JAMC
    • À propos
    • Numéro en cours
    • Archives
    • Sections
    • Abonnement
    • Alertes
    • Trousse média 2023
    • Avis de décès
  • CMAJ JOURNALS
    • CMAJ Open
    • CJS
    • JAMC
    • JPN

User menu

Search

  • Advanced search
CMAJ
  • CMAJ JOURNALS
    • CMAJ Open
    • CJS
    • JAMC
    • JPN
CMAJ

Advanced Search

  • Home
  • Content
    • Current issue
    • Past issues
    • Early releases
    • Collections
    • Sections
    • Blog
    • Infographics & illustrations
    • Podcasts
    • COVID-19 articles
    • Obituary notices
  • Authors & Reviewers
    • Overview for authors
    • Submission guidelines
    • Submit a manuscript
    • Forms
    • Editorial process
    • Editorial policies
    • Peer review process
    • Publication fees
    • Reprint requests
    • Open access
    • Patient engagement
  • Physicians & Subscribers
    • Benefits for Canadian physicians
    • CPD Credits for CMA Members
    • Subscribe to CMAJ Print
    • Subscription prices
    • Obituary notices
  • Alerts
    • Email alerts
    • RSS
  • JAMC
    • À propos
    • Numéro en cours
    • Archives
    • Sections
    • Abonnement
    • Alertes
    • Trousse média 2023
    • Avis de décès
  • Visit CMAJ on Facebook
  • Follow CMAJ on Twitter
  • Follow CMAJ on Instagram
  • Listen to CMAJ podcasts
Research

A comparison of blood pressure measurement over a sleeved arm versus a bare arm

Grace Ma, Norman Sabin and Martin Dawes
CMAJ February 26, 2008 178 (5) 585-589; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1503/cmaj.070975
Grace Ma MD
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Norman Sabin MD
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Martin Dawes MBBS MD
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • Article
  • Figures & Tables
  • Related Content
  • Responses
  • Metrics
  • PDF
Loading
  • © 2008 Canadian Medical Association

Abstract

Background: The measurement of blood pressure is a common clinical exam with important health consequences. We sought to determine whether the measurement of blood pressure over a sleeved arm varies from that taken on a bare arm.

Methods: We recruited 376 patients between 18 and 85 years of age from a family medicine clinic between September 2004 and November 2006. They all had their blood pressure recorded using the same automatic oscillometric device, with the cuff placed over their bare arms for the first reading. Each patient was then randomly assigned to either the bare-arm group, for which the second blood pressure reading was also taken on a bare arm, or the sleeved-arm group, for which the second reading was taken with the cuff placed over the patient's sleeve.

Results: The mean age of the 376 participants was 61.6 years (standard deviation 15.0), 61% of the participants were male, 41% had hypertension and 11.7% had diabetes. We found no clinically important differences between the bare-arm group (n = 180) and the sleeved-arm group (n = 196) in age, sex or body mass index. The mean differences between the first and second readings for patients in the bare-arm group were 4.1 mm Hg (95% confidence interval [CI] 2.8 to 5.5) for systolic blood pressure and 0.1 mm Hg (95% CI –0.7 to 0.9) for diastolic blood pressure. The mean differences between the first and second readings for patients in the sleeved-arm group were 3.4 mm Hg (95% CI 2.1 to 4.7) for systolic blood pressure and 0.4 mm Hg (95% CI –0.4 to 1.3) for diastolic blood pressure. The between-group differences in these values was 0.76 mm Hg (95% CI –1.13 to 2.65) for systolic and –0.31 mm Hg (95% CI –1.48 to 0.86) for diastolic blood pressure; neither of these differences was clinically important or statistically significant.

Interpretation: We found that there was no significant difference in blood pressure recorded over a sleeve or on a bare arm. For practical purposes, the decision to measure blood pressure on a bare arm or over a sleeved arm should be left to the judgment of the health care professional taking the blood pressure.

View Full Text
PreviousNext
Back to top

In this issue

Canadian Medical Association Journal: 178 (5)
CMAJ
Vol. 178, Issue 5
26 Feb 2008
  • Table of Contents
  • Index by author

Article tools

Respond to this article
Print
Download PDF
Article Alerts
To sign up for email alerts or to access your current email alerts, enter your email address below:
Email Article

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word on CMAJ.

NOTE: We only request your email address so that the person you are recommending the page to knows that you wanted them to see it, and that it is not junk mail. We do not capture any email address.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
A comparison of blood pressure measurement over a sleeved arm versus a bare arm
(Your Name) has sent you a message from CMAJ
(Your Name) thought you would like to see the CMAJ web site.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Citation Tools
A comparison of blood pressure measurement over a sleeved arm versus a bare arm
Grace Ma, Norman Sabin, Martin Dawes
CMAJ Feb 2008, 178 (5) 585-589; DOI: 10.1503/cmaj.070975

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
‍ Request Permissions
Share
A comparison of blood pressure measurement over a sleeved arm versus a bare arm
Grace Ma, Norman Sabin, Martin Dawes
CMAJ Feb 2008, 178 (5) 585-589; DOI: 10.1503/cmaj.070975
Digg logo Reddit logo Twitter logo Facebook logo Google logo Mendeley logo
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like

Jump to section

  • Article
    • Abstract
    • Methods
    • Results
    • Interpretation
    • Footnotes
    • REFERENCES
  • Figures & Tables
  • Related Content
  • Responses
  • Metrics
  • PDF

Related Articles

  • Highlights of this issue
  • Dans ce numéro
  • Measuring blood pressure: A call to bare arms?
  • PubMed
  • Google Scholar

Cited By...

  • "Do I Have to Take Off My Shirt?"
  • Measuring blood pressure: A call to bare arms?
  • Google Scholar

More in this TOC Section

  • Self-harm among youth during the first 28 months of the COVID-19 pandemic in Ontario, Canada: a population-based study
  • Emergency department visits and hospital admissions for suicidal ideation, self-poisoning and self-harm among adolescents in Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic
  • Trends in hospital admissions for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease over 16 years in Canada
Show more Research

Similar Articles

Collections

  • Topics
    • Cardiovascular medicine
    • Family medicine, general practice, primary care

 

View Latest Classified Ads

Content

  • Current issue
  • Past issues
  • Collections
  • Sections
  • Blog
  • Podcasts
  • Alerts
  • RSS
  • Early releases

Information for

  • Advertisers
  • Authors
  • Reviewers
  • CMA Members
  • CPD credits
  • Media
  • Reprint requests
  • Subscribers

About

  • General Information
  • Journal staff
  • Editorial Board
  • Advisory Panels
  • Governance Council
  • Journal Oversight
  • Careers
  • Contact
  • Copyright and Permissions
CMAJ Group

Copyright 2023, CMA Impact Inc. or its licensors. All rights reserved. ISSN 1488-2329 (e) 0820-3946 (p)

All editorial matter in CMAJ represents the opinions of the authors and not necessarily those of the Canadian Medical Association or its subsidiaries.

To receive any of these resources in an accessible format, please contact us at CMAJ Group, 500-1410 Blair Towers Place, Ottawa ON, K1J 9B9; p: 1-888-855-2555; e: [email protected]

CMA Civility, Accessibility, Privacy

 

Powered by HighWire