Systolic and diastolic blood pressures were measured by intraarterial means and by
auscultation. Comparisons were made with simultaneously determined intraarterial catheter
and auscultation measurements. Five healthy males were measured at rest and during
handgrip and deadlift isometric exercises, utilizing small and large muscle mass.
The data suggest that indirect systolic blood pressure is highly correlated with the
direct method at rest, during handgrip and deadlift (0.8, 0.9 and 0.91 respectively)
isometric exercises. Indirect diastolic blood pressure correlates well with intraarterial
at rest (0.7) and during the isometric handgrip bout which utilized small muscle mass
(0.8). As for the deadlift manoeuvre, the correlation coefficients between the indirect
and direct methods were low. These results suggest that when utilizing large muscle
mass during isometric deadlift exercise, the indirect method is not valid for assessment
of diastolic blood pressure.
Key words
Sustained exercise - auscultation - intraarterial blood pressure - systolic blood
pressure - diastolic blood pressure
