Measurement of blood pressure in people with atrial fibrillation

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)