Arterial blood pressure in the very low birthweight neonate. Evaluation of an automatic oscillometric technique.

The noninvasive oscillometric technique of arterial blood pressure determination was evaluated in fifteen very low birth weight neonates (less than 1,400 g). Measurement of invasive umbilical artery catheter pressure was used as a reference standard. By using a cuff width to arm circumference ratio of 0.33-0.42, mean blood pressure was overestimated by 6.2 (7.2) mmHg (mean and 1 SD), p less than 0.001. More accurate mean blood pressure measurements were recorded with a cuff width to arm circumference ratio of 0.44-0.55. Measurements of systolic and diastolic blood pressure showed similar results.