Arterial blood pressure estimative in children from one to six years old with special referente to the width of the cuff

Abstract

The author presents means and dispersion's mesures - standards deviations and percentiles - of systolic and diastolic pressures in children from one to six years old. The use of a cuff whose width equals the diameter of the child's arm plus an 20% increase was established. The study evidences a significant influence of this width upon the arterial blood pressure readings. So, when a narrower cuff was emplovedn, the average values of the systolic and diastolic pressures were overestimated and when a cuff large than the established one was used, they were underestimated.