Abstract

The Dinamap 845 blood pressure recorder has been evaluated over a wide range of blood pressure by comparison with the Hawksley random zero sphygmomanometer in 32 subjects, six of whom had a cardiac arrhythmia. Group mean radings for systolic and phase 5 diastolic pressure were almost identical but Dinamap diastolic values were on average significantly lower (mean difference 3.4 mmHg) than phase 4 diastolic readings obtained with the Hawksley machine. Correlations between readings with the two instruments were high but the slopes and intercepts of the regression for systolic but not diastolic pressure were significantly different from unity and zero, respectively. The Dinamap is easy to use, portable, and capable of rejecting some motion artefact. Its major disadvantage is that the systolic blood pressure measurement is limited to a maximum of 210 mmHg, a point not made clear in the manufacturer's literature. Nevertheless, the Dinamap 845 is acceptable for blood pressure determinations in subjects who are normotensive or who have mild hypertension.