Just like breast-shield sizes are optional of breast pumps, cuff is also with some sizes for different users of blood pressure monitors. If your arms are thick or your blood pressure can only be measured through your legs, don’t hesitate to use a suitable blood pressure monitor with extra large cuff as it will affect your measurement accuracy.
What are the sizes of adult blood pressure monitor cuff?
At present, the models of adult blood pressure monitor cuff in Joytech Healthcare manufactured bp monitors are divided into the following three types:
1. Thick arm cuff: the range of arm circumference is 22-42 cm (central part of upper arm).
2. Standard cuff: the range of arm circumference is 22-36 cm (the central part of the upper arm). Generally, the cuff attached to the blood pressure monitor is a standard cuff.
3. Thin arm cuff: the range of arm circumference is 16-24 cm (central part of upper arm).
What is the effect of arm circumference and different types of cuff on blood pressure?
The study of Wang Guangfu, Gong Yi, Su Hai, et al. "Adult arm circumference survey and the effect of cuff arm circumference matching on blood pressure measurements" shows that cuff arm circumference mismatch can lead to an increase in systolic and diastolic blood pressure of 6 mm Hg and 4 mm Hg respectively.
Chen Jisheng's research "the development of blood pressure measurement and the influence of cuff and arm circumference on blood pressure" mentioned that when using fixed standard cuff to measure the blood pressure of people with various arm circumference, for obese people, their blood pressure may be overestimated and false hypertension may occur;
In Liu Biyue's study "influence on the accuracy of electronic blood pressure monitor measurement", it is mentioned that patients with different arm circumference use standard cuff measurement data (unit: mmHg) to compare the deviation
| Standard arm circumference blood pressure value | Average of two measurements with arm circumference of 54cm | Average of two measurements with arm circumference of 27cm | Average of two measurements with arm circumference of 18cm |
systolic pressure | 120 | 130 | 120.5 | 122.5 |
diastolic pressure | 80 | 84.5 | 80.5 | 86.5 |
It can be seen that when the arm circumference is larger than the cuff range, the measured systolic blood pressure is higher; When the arm circumference is smaller than the cuff range, the measured diastolic blood pressure is higher.
Conclusion is that:
A. When the blood pressure of the patient's upper limb cannot be measured, we can measure the blood pressure of the lower limb, but it is better to use a special leg type cuff or a large type of thick arm cuff. If the blood pressure of the lower limb is measured with a commonly used standard type cuff, the measured value will be high, especially the systolic blood pressure.
B. For patients with different arm circumference, it is best to use different models of blood pressure monitor cuff to measure blood pressure, so as to avoid pseudo-hypertension.
C. It is suggested that clinical departments should be equipped with different types of cuff to measure blood pressure for patients with different arm circumference.
