[Oversized patient arms: a problem with blood pressure measurements in the ENT-practice]

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. Blood pressure measurement, large arm circumference, wrist blood measurement devices.