COMPARATIVE EVALUATION OF SENSITIVITY OF BLOOD PRESSURE MEASURING EQUIPMENT OF DIFFERENT MAKES USED BY HEALTH FACILITIES IN A CAPITAL CITY OF SOUTHEAST-NIGERIA

Accurate blood pressure (BP) measurement is fundamental for diagnosing and managing hypertension disease. Cases of high blood pressure (HBP) and cardiovascular accident are on the increase, therefore, sensitive, accurate and high precision equipment is panacea for the proper management of the disease. The objective of this study is to compare the diagnostic accuracy between digital (Omron), semiautomatic sphygmomanometer (Aneroid) verses Mercury sphygmomanometer in normotensive subjects. Three blood pressure measuring equipment from different makes; Omron M3 (Digital-automated), A&D Medical UA-767S (Manuel-anerod) and Accoson Greenlight 300 (mercury calibration), were used serially for two consecutive times for each. The choice of these three makes was based on manufactures credibility, common accessibility and use among health facilities in our study area.The result of our finding shows variability in sensitivity, (accuracy and precision) among the three devices. Systolic and diastolic readings of Omron M3 and A&D Medical UA-767S showed significant difference (p≤ 0.05) from the readings of Accoson Greenlight 300 which we used as standard to compare the other two. More inconsistencies (significantly lack of precision) were recorded with Omron M3 and A&D Medical UA-767S than with Accoson Greenlight 300.