A comparison of the Sphygmetrics SR-2 Automatic Blood Pressure Recorder to the mercury sphygmomanometer in population studies.

The Sphygmetrics SR-2 Automatic Blood Pressure Recorder uses an infrasonic technique for detecting artery wall motion to estimate systemic arterial pressure and produces a permanent record of the results. It therefore is potentially useful in reducing observer bias in epidemiologic studies of blood pressure (BP). Two blood pressures were recorded in 21 men and 50 women using the SR-2 simultaneously with two auscultators using a biaural stethoscope and mercury syhgmomanometer. The SR-2 measured slightly higher systolic nd slightly lower diastolic pressures on average, but the differences were not significant. The two auscultators were highly correlated with one another (r = 0.99 systolic/0.97 diastolic) and with the SR-2 (0.93 and 0.92 for systolic, 0.84 and 0.85 for diastolic). The correlations were unrelated to sex, age, or antihypertensive medication status, but the correlations between th SR-2 and either auscultator for diastolic BP were quite low (0.36, 0.55) in subjects whose relative weight was below 1.0. Interpretation of the SR-2 disc was very reliable, with inter- and intra-reader correlations being 0.99 for systolic and 0.84 to 0.94 for diastolic. The SR-2 was found to be comparable to auscultation in estimating systolic BP in a heterogeneous population which has the advantages of reducing observer bias and producing a permanent record. Its use in estimating diastolic pressure in thin individuals and children needs further evaluation.