| Summary: | Current validation protocols for assessing the accuracy of
blood pressure monitors exclude people with atrial fibrillation, except in special circumstances [1]. Hypertension
guidelines advise manual blood pressure measurement in
the presence of arrhythmia. They also promote home and
ambulatory monitoring for diagnosis of hypertension, which
necessarily requires automated devices [2]. Few studies of
automated blood pressure measurement with atrial fibrillation have been undertaken, and none in full accordance with
internationally recognised protocols. We recently reported a
systematic review and meta-analysis of accuracy of oscillometric devices for blood pressure measurement in atrial
fibrillation [3]. The recommendations presented here are
based on that review, supplemented by consensus expert
opinion of the Blood Pressure Measurement Working Party
of the British and Irish Hypertension Society (BIHS).
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