The following is a summary of “Comparing Oscillometric and Auscultatory BP Methods: Ambulance Noise Simulation Study,” published in the May 2023 issue of Emergency Medicine by Tatliparmak et al.

Although it is known that noise negatively influences blood pressure (BP) measurements, the impact of noise on various BP measurement methods is unknown. This study aims to compare the agreement between oscillometric and auscultatory blood pressure measurement techniques under ambulance noise conditions. In a tertiary emergency department (ED), 50 healthy participants participated in this method comparison study. Two emergency medical technicians (EMTs) measured blood pressure in noisy and ambient environments using auscultatory and oscillometric techniques in each group of 25 participants. 

The study’s primary objective was to compare the agreement between mercury auscultatory sphygmomanometers and automated oscillometric blood pressure measurements in ambient and noisy environments (46.75 [IQR (41.2–55.18)] dB). In an ambient atmosphere, both systolic and diastolic blood pressure measurements were within the level of agreement (LoA) established before the study (systolic BP [-13.96 to 8.48 mmHG], diastolic BP [-7.44 to 8.08 mmHg]); however, in a noisy environment (92.35 [IQR 88–96.55] dB), both systolic and diastolic blood pressure measurements were outside the range of LoA  [−37.77 to 9.94 mmHg], diastolic BP [−21.73 to 16.37 mmHg]).

In addition, researchers discovered that concordance correlation coefficients in ambient environments were more significant than in chaotic environments (0.943 [0.906–0.966], 0.957 [0.93–0.974]; 0.574 [0.419–0.697], 0.544 [0.326–0.707]; systolic and diastolic blood pressure, respectively). The results of this study indicate that noise substantially affects the correlation between oscillometric and auscultatory blood pressure measurement techniques.

Source: sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0735675723000906