The effect of clothes on blood pressure measurement

Objective: to determine the effect of clothes on blood pressure measurement. methods: one group pretest-posttest design was used in this study. the study consisted of 162 undergraduate students studying nursing and physiotherapy at a university in ankara,turkey. blood pressure was measured over the sleeve and below a rolled-up sleeve with a mercury-filled column sphygmomanometer. all blood pressure measurements were performed on the right arm during morning hours by the same nurse. each participant’s height,weight and clothing thickness were measured. results: the mean age of the participants was 20.71. the median systolic blood pressure values were 110.07 mmhg over the sleeve and 110.37 mmhg below the rolled-up sleeve. there were no statistically significant differences between measurements taken over the sleeve and below a rolled-up sleeve (p=0.222). the median diastolic blood pressure values were 69.56 mmhg over the sleeve and 69.59 mmhg below the rolled-up sleeve. there were no statistically significant differences between measurements taken over the sleeve and below a rolled-up sleeve (p=0.572). conclusion: it was found that clothes have no statistically significant effect on systolic/diastolic blood pressure measurements. measuring blood pressure over a sleeve may save time. © 2017,professional medical publications. all rights reserved.