Author(s): Uzma Firdaus, Syed Manazir Ali, M. Ashraf Malik, A. J. Ahmed
The pattern of blood pressure (BP) in healthy newborns by Oscillometric method was studied and compared with the conventional method. The percentile ranks of blood pressure in the newborn at different ages were established. For this a longitudinal study in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) of a tertiary care hospital was conducted. BP measurement of the newborn was carried out at birth, at discharge/ day 3 and at day 28 by the same investigator. The BP in the newborns increased from day 1 to day 3 at a rate of 2 mmHg/ day. The BP was found to increase till 1 month though at a slower rate. BP values obtained by Dinamap correlated well with those by mercury sphygmomanometer for all the three limbs. Percentile ranks of BP according to age were worked out. Oscillometry can be a good alternative to the conventional method for BP measurement in the newborn, however large multicentric trials should be done to establish the reference percentiles of BP for the newborn.