AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE TAKEDA UA-731 AUTOMATIC BLOOD-PRESSURE MEASURING DEVICE AND THE MANUAL MERCURY SPHYGMOMANOMETER - AN ASSESSMENT UNDERFIELD CONDITIONS IN NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE, UK

Study objective - To assess agreement between two Takeda UA-731 automa tic blood pressure measuring devices (referred to as machines A and B) and two manual mercury sphygmomanometers. Design - A 'Y' connector at tached each Takeda UA-731 to a manual mercury sphygmomanometer. Simult aneous measurements were made on adult subjects. Setting - A populatio n based cardiovascular disease survey in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. Part icipants - Measurements on machine A were compared in 71 individuals ( all women), and on machine B in 75 individuals (9 men, 66 women). The age range of subjects was 28 to 76 years and median ages were 59 years for machine A and 50 years for machine B. Main results - Blood pressu re (mmHg) ranged from 72 to 212 systolic and 44 to 102 diastolic. Both Takedas gave significantly lower readings than the manual devices for systolic and diastolic pressures: differences were mean (SD: 95% CI) 3.7 mmHg (6.5: 2.2, 5.2) for machine A systolic, 2.3 mmHg (4.5: 1.3, 3 .4) machine A diastolic; 1.8 mmHg (6.2: 0.4, 3.3) machine B systolic, and 1.8 (4.4: 0.8, 2.8) machine B diastolic. On the British Hypertensi on Society criteria, machine A was graded C on systolic measurements a nd B on diastolic; machine B was graded B on both systolic and diastol ic measurements. Conclusions - The performance of these machines compa res favourably with the Dinamap 8100, recently adopted for survey work by the Department of Health. The Takeda UA-731 looks promising for ep idemiological survey work but before it can be fully recommended furth er evaluations are needed.