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eMediNexus 15 July 2021
A doctor should have cuffs of all sizes in his clinic. Otherwise, he may wrongly diagnose someone as having hypertension, or may miss the diagnosis in some patient.
Using too-small cuff (undercuffing) on a large arm may incorrectly diagnose someone with high blood pressure, leading to erroneous medication. On the contrary, high blood pressure may go undiagnosed if too-large a cuff (overcuffing) is used on a small arm. This can eventually lead to lack of treatment, giving rise to stroke and heart attack. Using the wrong cuff size (miss-cuffing) thus amounts to inaccurate readings. (Indian J Community Med. 2013;38(1):15-21.)
Overestimation of blood pressure by just 5mmHg can result in inappropriate treatment, giving way to unnecessary treatment and cost, side effects of medications and mislabeling the person as hypertensive with associated psychological issues. (Int Arch Nurs Health Care 2015;1:1)
Use of the proper cuff size avoids overestimation of BP in obese patients and underestimation of BP in thin individuals. (South Med J. 2000 Mar;93(3):256-9)
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