A review of blood pressure measurement in obese pregnant women.

Blood pressure monitoring is a critical component of antenatal, peripartum and postnatal care. The accurate detection and treatment of abnormal blood pressure during pregnancy is essential for the optimisation of maternal and neonatal outcomes. Increasing maternal obesity in western populations is well documented. The presence of a large arm circumference in obese pregnant women may lead to difficult and inaccurate blood pressure measurements. Difficulties measuring blood pressure in non-pregnant obese patients are well described. In the literature, the problem is uncommonly mentioned in relation to pregnant patients. This topic review will discuss the importance and challenges of blood pressure measurement in pregnancy. The currently available equipment for blood pressure monitoring in pregnancy will be identified and the process of validating devices described. The limitations of the current validation protocols in pregnancy will be highlighted. It is concluded that a pregnancy-specific validation protocol is required: this would facilitate the introduction of new technology for use in high-risk pregnant women. More accurate blood pressure measurement has the potential to improve the diagnosis and management of abnormal blood pressure in pregnancy and influence maternal and neonatal outcomes.