Does it matter whether blood pressure measurements are taken with subjects sitting or supine?
GROUND: Several guidelines for the management of hypertension do not give special preference to a specific position of the patient during blood pressure measurement, suggesting that blood pressure readings taken with patients sitting and with patients supine are interchangeable. OBJECTIVE: To test whether there is any difference between the blood pressure readings with patients sitting and supine. DESIGN AND METHODS: Blood pressure and heart rate were measured three times each for 245 subjects (171 hypertensives), with subjects both sitting and supine, simultaneously on both arms, with a Hawksley random-zero sphygmomanometer on the right arm and a semi-automatic oscillometric device (Bosomat) on the left arm. The sequence of the two positions was randomized. The procedure was repeated on a second occasion for 49 subjects (41 hypertensives) with the sequence of the positions reversed. Because there was no systematic difference among the three readings per position, the averages of the t
