Background: Valid measurements of blood pressure, both at clinical and community settings, are essential for monitoring this variable at the population level.
Objective: To evaluate the validity of a wrist digital monitor for measuring blood pressure among adolescents in comparison to a mercury sphygmomanometer.
Methods: A validation study was carried out in the city of Pelotas, Southern Brazil. Blood pressure was measured twice using two different sphygmomanometers; an OMRON wrist digital and a desktop BD mercury one. Half of the sample was measured first with the digital manometer and subsequently with the mercury one, whereas the remaining half was evaluated in the opposite order. Agreement between both measures was evaluated using the Bland and Altman method.
Results: 120 adolescents aged 14 to 15 years were included (50% of each sex). Mean systolic blood pressure among boys was 113.7 mmHg (SD 14.2) when using the mercury manometer and 115.5 mmHg (SD 15.2) when using the digital one. Equivalent values for diastolic blood pressure were 61.5 mmHg (SD 9.9) and 69.6 mmHg (10.2), respectively. Among girls, the mean systolic blood pressure was 104.7 mmHg (SD 10.1) when using the mercury manometer and 102.4 mmHg (SD 11.9) when using the digital device. Values for diastolic blood pressure were 60.0 mmHg (SD 10.4) and 65.7 mmHg (SD 7.7), respectively.
Conclusions: The digital device showed a high level of agreement with the mercury manometer when measuring systolic blood pressure. The level of agreement was lower for diastolic blood pressure. The use of correction equations may be an alternative for studies using this wrist digital monitor in adolescent patients.