Summary
The increase in the worldwide prevalence of obesity systematically leads to a higher
number of individuals who may be wrongly diagnosed as hypertensive because their arms
are too large for standard blood pressure cuffs, which are ordinarily appropriate
in patients with normal sized arms. We found however, that 97,8% of patients with
an oversized upper arm had a normal sized wrist, appropriate to the most wrist blood
measurement devices. The availability of a wrist blood measurement device seems therefore
a good recommendation for every practice, to grant correct blood pressure readings
also in patients with oversized arms.
Key words
Blood pressure measurement, large arm circumference, wrist blood measurement devices
