title: Validation of the Beurer BM 44 upper arm blood pressure monitor for home measurement, according to the European Society of Hypertension International Protocol 2002.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The present study aimed to validate the automated upper arm blood pressure (BP) measuring device BM 44 for home BP monitoring according to the 2002 Protocol of the European Society of Hypertension. The most important new feature of the new device was an integrated 'WHO indicator', which categorizes the patient's individual result within the WHO recommendations for target BP by a coloured scale.
  
  
  METHODS
  Systolic and diastolic BPs were measured sequentially in 35 adult participants (16 men, 19 women) using a standard mercury y-tubed reference sphygmomanometer (two observers) and the BM 44 device (one supervisor). Ninety-nine pairs of comparisons were obtained from 15 participants in phase 1 and a further 18 participants in phase 2 of the validation study.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The BM 44 device passed phase 1 of the validation study successfully with a number of absolute differences between device and observers of 5, 10 and 15 mmHg for at least 28 out of 25, 35 out of 35 and 40 out of 40 measurements, respectively. The device also achieved the targets for phases 2.1 and 2.2, with 23 and 26 participants having had at least two of three device-observers differences within 5 mmHg for systolic and diastolic BP, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The Beurer BM 44 upper arm BP monitor has passed the International Protocol requirements, and hence can be recommended for home use in adults.
authors.affiliation: Medical Clinic, St Josefs Hospital, Cloppenburg, Germany. stephan.lueders@kk-om.de
authors.forename: Stephan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lüders
authors.forename: Ralf
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Krüger
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zemmrich
authors.forename: Klaus
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Forstner
authors.forename: Claus-Dieter
authors.initials: CD
authors.lastname: Sturm
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bramlage
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001132:Arm / Q000502:physiology; D001794:Blood Pressure; D018660:Blood Pressure Monitoring, Ambulatory / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000592:standards; D005060:Europe; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012955:Societies, Medical; D019722:Sphygmomanometers