What is AOBP? (in dark reaction)
Answers
Explanation:
In 2013, a joint task force of the European Society of Cardiology and the European Society of Hypertension published new guidelines for the management of hypertension (1). A highlight was the statement that “BP can no longer be estimated using a mercury sphygmomanometer in many - although not all - European countries. Auscultatory or oscillometric semi-automated sphygmomanometers are used instead”. A similar statement was made in the 2014 guidelines of the International Society of Hypertension/American Society of Hypertension (2): “The electronic device is preferred (to record BP) because it provides more reproducible results than the older (auscultatory) method and is not influenced by variations in technique or by the bias of observers”. These guidelines recognise several realities:
The use of mercury in healthcare settings in the European Community and elsewhere is now severely curtailed.
More importantly is the recognition that manual BP measurement, regardless of the type of sphygmomanometer used, is inferior because it is subject to multiple sources of error in routine clinical practice.
Furthermore, automated devices which have been properly validated for accuracy are now readily available as an alternative to manual