Arm circumference: its importance for dialysis patients in the obesity era

• Published in: International urology and nephrology 2013-08, Vol.45 (4), p.1103-1110
• Main Authors: Akpolat, Tekin, Kaya, Coşkun, Utaş, Cengiz, Arinsoy, Turgay, Taşkapan, Hülya, Erdem, Emre, Yilmaz, M. Emin, Ataman, Rezzan, Bozfakioğlu, Semra, Özener, Çetin, Karayaylali, İbrahim, Kazancioğlu, Rümeyza, Çamsari, Taner, Yavuz, Mahmut, Ersoy, Fevzi, Duman, Soner, Ateş, Kenan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Arm; Blood Pressure Monitoring, Ambulatory - instrumentation; Blood Pressure Monitoring, Ambulatory - methods; Blood Pressure Monitors; Body Fat Distribution; Body Mass Index; Chi-Square Distribution; Cohort Studies; Equipment Design; Female; Follow-Up Studies; Humans; Hypertension - diagnosis; Hypertension - etiology; Kidney Failure, Chronic - complications; Kidney Failure, Chronic - diagnosis; Kidney Failure, Chronic - therapy; Male; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Middle Aged; Nephrology; Nephrology - Original Paper; Obesity - complications; Obesity - diagnosis; Peritoneal Dialysis - adverse effects; Peritoneal Dialysis - methods; Renal Dialysis - adverse effects; Renal Dialysis - methods; Reproducibility of Results; Risk Assessment; Treatment Outcome; Urology
• ISSN: 0301-1623; 1573-2584
• DOI: 10.1007/s11255-012-0219-8

Purpose The purposes of this study were to investigate the association between arm circumference and body mass index (BMI) and to discuss problems, mainly arm circumference and cuff size mismatch, that could affect the reliability of home blood pressure monitoring (HBPM) among peritoneal dialysis (PD) and hemodialysis (HD) patients. Methods 525 PD and 502 HD patients from 16 centers were included in the study. A two-part questionnaire was used to gather information from the participants. Arm circumferences were categorized into four groups according to the British Hypertension Society cuff size recommendations. Results Mean BMI and arm circumference of all participants were 25.0 kg/m 2 and 27.6 cm, respectively. There was a significant correlation between BMI and arm circumference. The mean BMI and arm circumference values were higher in PD patients than in HD patients. Requirement of a large-sized adult cuff was more common among PD patients compared to HD patients (14 % vs 8 %, p  = 0.002). Conclusions Since HBPM is a useful tool for clinicians to improve BP control, nephrologists should be aware of the problems related to HBPM in dialysis patients and take an active role to increase the reliability of HBPM.