Is it necessary to roll up sleeves when measuring blood pressure?

"Do I have to be shirtless or roll up my sleeves when measuring my blood pressure? Will this affect the accuracy of blood pressure monitoring?" This question has been bothering many people, especially the elderly who are used to wearing heavy clothes in winter.

The principle of measuring blood pressure with a sphygmomanometer is mainly to measure the lateral pressure of the blood vessel wall through the sphygmomanometer, pressurize the air, compress it to the local artery, and prevent the fluctuation of the local artery by applying pressure, thereby measuring the blood flow pressure during this period.

Some people often roll up their sleeves to measure blood pressure, which is the most undesirable. When the sleeves are rolled up, the rolled-up clothes will compress the blood vessels (similar to the presence of obvious atherosclerotic plaques in the blood vessels, causing vascular stenosis), and the upper arms are wrapped too tightly, making the blood pressure lower than the actual value.

What will happen if you measure blood pressure through thick clothes? Generally speaking, to ensure the accuracy of the measurement results, it is best to take off the clothes on the upper arm, measure the blood pressure with the bare upper arm, and do not roll up the thick sleeves on the cuff. Studies have shown that if the thickness of the clothing at the measurement site is ≤5mm, it will not affect the sound of the brachial artery pulsation when auscultating, and generally will not affect the accuracy of blood pressure measurement. However, if the sleeve thickness is greater than 5mm when measuring blood pressure, it will affect the auditory sensitivity and the change in the pressure of the sphygmomanometer cuff, causing the measured blood pressure to be lower than the actual blood pressure. It can be seen that if the thickness of the clothes does not exceed 5mm, it will not affect the measurement results.

Therefore, it is recommended that you wear thinner or easy-to-remove clothes when measuring blood pressure to ensure the accuracy of the measurement results and to accurately obtain blood pressure values.

□Nursing Department, Wencheng County People's Hospital, Zhejiang Province