Inflationary noninvasive blood pressure monitoring reduces lower-limb pain during measurement

Objective: This study aimed to investigate whether inflationary noninvasive blood-pressure measurement reduces pain during blood-pressure monitoring with the lower limbs compared to the conventional noninvasive measurement method.Methods: Healthy volunteers aged ≥ 18 years were recruited for the study. After seating the participants, a manchette was fitted onto each limb (upper limbs: YP-713T YAWARA CUFF2 13 cm; lower limbs: YP-715T YAWARA CUFF2 for thigh 19 cm, Nihon Kohden Tokyo, Japan). The inflationary and conventional noninvasive blood-pressure measurement devices (PVM-9901 and PVM-9901, Nihon Kohden, Tokyo, Japan) were connected, and the blood pressure was measured simultaneously at two points in the upper and lower limbs. After the measurement, the participants answered a questionnaire regarding the lower-limb pain, and the intensity of pain was evaluated using the visual analog scale.Results: The study included 111 healthy volunteers. The visual analog scale scores of the upper and lower limbs were significantly lower with the inflationary noninvasive blood pressure measurement device than with the conventional noninvasive blood pressure device (upper limbs: 25.6 ± 23.2 vs. 38.8 ± 27.5, p < .001 and lower limbs: 42.2 ± 25.1 vs. 54.2 ± 26.1, p < .01, respectively).Conclusions: We examined the effect of pain reduction on the lower limbs with inflationary noninvasive blood-pressure measurements in healthy volunteers. We conclude that inflationary noninvasive blood pressure measurement may reduce pain in the lower limbs during blood-pressure monitoring compared to a conventional noninvasive blood pressure measurement.