Sidika Oguz, Derya Karabas.
The effect of different body positions and speech on blood pressure in hypertension patients.
Pak Heart J Jan ;50(2):65-70.

Objective: To determine the effect of different body positions and speech on blood pressure (BP) in patients with hypertension. Methodology: This cross sectional study was performed from February 2011 to June 2011. Ten percent of the total annual number of patients who received treatment for hypertension either at the hypertension polyclinic or on inpatient basis at the cardiology clinic were included. Patients previously diagnosed with hypertension (BP>140-90 mmHg), aged 18 years and above were included.The data was collected by a questionnaire and blood pressure measurements were documented. Aneroid sphygmomanometer was used for BP pressure measurements. Measurements were made in a certain order, i.e. while the patients were sitting, speaking, in supine position and in supine position with the feet crossed at the ankles. The measurements were taken from the right and left arms, three minutes apart. The data were evaluated using percentage, frequency and One-way Anova test. Statistical significance was set at p<.05. Result: Total of 162 patients were included. No differences were seen between the BP measurements taken from the right and left arms in the different positions(p> .05). For the BP measurements performed in the right arm, diastolic blood pressure (DBP) was the lowest in the supine position (72.8+-12) and highest while speaking (77.1+-13.3) (p=.003). For the BP measurements performed in the left arm, DBP was the lowest in the supine position (72.7+-11) and highest in the sitting position (76+-12.3) (p=.021). Conclusion: Systolic blood pressure (SBP) did not differ much with body position. On the other hand, DBP was higher while speaking when BP was measured in the right arm, whereas DBP was higher in the sitting position when BP was measured in the left arm.

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