Comparison of blood pressure and pulse readings measured on a bare arm, a clothed arm and on an arm with a rolled-up sleeve

Abstract

BackgroundAlthough there are standards for measuring blood pressure and pulse, nurses and other health professionals implement different practices. It has been observed that these measurements are sometimes taken over sleeves or with rolled-up sleeves due to various cultural factors or as a matter of convenience. There is a need to investigate whether measurements taken in this form can be counted on to be reliable. ObjectiveThis study aimed to compare blood pressure and pulse readings measured on a bare arm, a clothed arm and on an arm with a rolled-up sleeve. MethodsThis study, of analytical design, was conducted with 200 individuals at the Adnan Menderes University Research and Practice Hospital in January and December 2017. A questionnaire and a measurement recording form were used in collecting the data. The participants’ blood pressure and pulse readings were taken and the circumference of the clothed and bare arm and arm skinfold thickness was measured. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, the independent samples t-test, and Pearson's correlation test. ResultsThe mean age of the individuals participating in the study was 33.38 ± 9.14 (range: 19–51). It was observed that in the measurements taken over a bare and clothed arm, mean systolic (114.48 ± 13.18 and 114.72 ± 12.21, respectively) and diastolic (70.42 ± 8.72 and 70.24 ± 8.63, respectively) blood pressure readings were statistically similar (t = −0.41, p = 0.682; t = 0.45, p = 0.653, respectively). On the other hand, in the measurements taken over an arm with a rolled-up, constricting sleeve, it was observed that mean systolic (116.76 ± 13.00) and diastolic (71.99 ± 9.15) blood pressure readings were statistically higher than measurements taken over a bare arm (t = −3.88, p = 0.000; t = −3.75, p = 0.000, respectively) and a clothed arm (t = −3.43, p = 0.001; t = −4.31, p = 0.000, respectively). Similarly, pulse readings taken from an arm with a rolled-up, constricting sleeve (82.40 ± 12.15) were found to be statistically higher than pulse readings taken from a bare arm (79.68 ± 12.30) and a clothed arm (80.44 ± 11.10) (t = −6.78, p = 0.000; t = −5.50, p = 0.000, respectively). The analysis indicated blood pressure and pulse readings were positively correlated with arm thickness but not correlated with the arm skinfold thickness or the thickness of the clothing. ConclusionThe study revealed that constricting rolled-up sleeves and the thickness of the circumference of the arm were factors that produced higher systolic and diastolic blood pressure and pulse readings.