[Quality assurance and quality control of blood pressure measurements. Experiences with the Munich blood pressure study].
More than 12 000 blood pressure measurements were taken in the Munich Blood Pressure Study (MBS). The reliability of these blood pressure measurements is reported. After consideration of possibilities for systematic and random measurement errors we present methods used in the MBS to control and assess the quality of the blood pressure readings over a long period of time: measures for standardizing the recording conditions and procedures; training and testing of the field staff using audio tape-recording and simultaneous measurements with a double stethoscope; analysis of inter- and intraobserver-variation relative to that of reference measurements; analysis of observer preferences for certain terminal digits. With the application of these methods one can indeed successfully reduce observer variability to a tolerable amount even over a considerable period of time.
D001795:Blood Pressure Determination; D005860:Germany, West; D006801:Humans; D011786:Quality Control; D012015:Reference Standards
Qualitätssicherung und Qualitätskontrolle der Blutdruckmessung. Erfahrungen der Münchner Blutdruckstudie.