Accuracy of the London School of Hygiene and Remler M2000 sphygmomanometers

Abstract

1. The accuracy of the Remler M2000, a semiautomatic portable blood pressure recorder, was assessed with the London School of Hygiene (LSH) and Hawkesley random-zero sphygmomanometers used as reference standards. 2. The Remler gave higher recordings than the LSH sphygmomanometer, the mean systolic and diastolic differences being 5.9 mmHg (P less than 0.001) and 4.7 mmHg (P less than 0.001) respectively. No significant difference was demonstrated between paired Remler and Hawkesley recordings. 3. When simultaneous paired LSH and Hawkesley sphygmomanometer recordings were compared, with LSH gave lower blood pressures: 7.1 mmHg (P less than 0.001) for systolic and 3.6 mmHg (P less than 0.001) for diastolic recordings. 4. The LSH sphygmomanometer underestimates blood pressure, partly due to a calibration error but also because the selection of end points for this device differs from other methods of blood pressure measurement.