title: [Variations in blood pressure measurement during systematic screening tests and their effects on public health].
abstract: The variability of blood pressure measurements is studied, in a standardized screening, by comparing the measures obtained during a medical examen and those made by technicians under different circumstances. This variability is important. A systematic bias is due to the digit preference for the zero value by the doctors. Besides, strong subject/obser interaction accounts partly for higher values measured in the medical exam. The mean blood pressures and the prevalence of hypertension are increased under some circumstances close to those of everyday life and labile hypertension is very frequent. The individual variability of the measure and the prevalence of hypertension are reduced by a standardized technique when applied under favorable circumstances by technicians. The reproductibility of this measure is good but the simultaneous taking into account of two successive measures still reduces much this prevalence. In these conditions it is very difficult to estimate the prevalence of hypertension in the population: an example is given where this frequency varies in the proportion of 1 to 6 according to the measures considered. The implications of this variability on the screening of hypertension are discussed.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001795:Blood Pressure Determination; D005602:France; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000175:diagnosis*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011634:Public Health
vernacular_title: La variabilité de la mesure tensionnelle dans un examen de dépistage systématique et ses conséquences en santé publique.