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The effect of heart rate on blood pressure measurement in patients with atrial fibrillation: a cross-sectional study

Hypertension Research volume 45, pages 1183–1192 (2022)Cite this article

A Comment to this article was published on 10 May 2022

Abstract

This study explored the effect of heart rate (HR) on the stability and accuracy of blood pressure (BP) measurement and the optimal HR range for the most accurate blood pressure measurement in atrial fibrillation (AF) patients. A total of 583 patients (383 and 200 with AF and sinus rhythm (SR), respectively) were included in this study. The noninvasive blood pressure (NIBP), invasive blood pressure (IBP), and HR were repeatedly measured ten times at 30-second intervals for every patient. Both the AF and SR groups were then subdivided into five groups depending on the HR (i.e., < 60, 60–80, 80–100, 100–120, and ≥120 bpm). The difference between the IBP and NIBP (i.e., △SBP) and the coefficient of variation (CV) were calculated, and the stability and accuracy of NIBP measurements were analyzed. CV and △SBP were significantly higher in the AF group. In the AF group, the CV of NIBP was highest when the HR was ≥ 100 bpm; and △SBP was significantly lower in the HR groups with 60–80 and 80–100 bpm (< 60 bpm, △SBP 11.62 ± 2.64 mmHg; 60–80 bpm, △SBP 7.10 ± 1.92 mmHg; 80–100 bpm, △SBP 7.10 ± 2.95 mmHg; 100–120 bpm, △SBP 10.52 ± 2.72 mmHg; ≥120 bpm, △SBP 14.15 ± 3.61 mmHg, P < 0.05). The stability and accuracy of the NIBP in the SR groups were not affected by the HR. In AF patients, the NIBP stability was low when the HR was high, and the NIBP was often underestimated when the HR was high or low. Sixty to 100 bpm is the best HR range for measuring blood pressure in AF patients.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge manuscript-preparation input from Joel Swai (ORCID: 0000-0001-5363-3977).

Funding information

The study was supported by the Key Research and Development Program of Hunan Province (No. 2022SK2029) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China Projects (No. 81800271).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Third Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha, China

    Xiexiong Zhao, Jingle Li, Miao Huang, Nana You, Jiaying Li, Ruixuan Li, Shunsong Chen, Tao Liu, Jianwei Zeng, Xiaogang Li & Weihong Jiang

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Zhao, X., Li, J., Huang, M. et al. The effect of heart rate on blood pressure measurement in patients with atrial fibrillation: a cross-sectional study. Hypertens Res 45, 1183–1192 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41440-022-00897-1

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