Background: The removal of mercury sphygmomanometers from health centers requires the validation of other instruments to measure blood pressure in the limbs to calculate the ankle-brachial index (ABI).
Methods: Descriptive cross-sectional study of agreement between two measurement methods in type 2 diabetes patients from three urban primary healthcare centres in the Barcelonès Nord i Maresme area (Catalonia, Spain).
Results: 211 patients were included, from these, 421 limbs were available for study. The mean age of the participants was 67 years (SD = 10), 51.7% were women.
Conclusion: The combination of a Doppler device with the hybrid sphygmomanometer is a simple and reliable method to measure ABI showing that hybrid sphygmomanometer is a good alternative to the use of mercury sphygmomanometers.