Given the complexities involved in measuring and standardising oesophageal pressure measurements, and the preliminary nature of these findings, we believe that confirmation in the form of a larger multicentre RCT is required before this approach is used in the majority of ARDS patients.
To standardise the blood pressure measurements all recordings were performed by 1 operator (PB), trained in the measurement of ABPI.
At present, precompression cannot be measured or standardised reliably because pressure sensors are not incorporated within transducers.
But pressure to standardise our numbers with the US drove Harold Wilson to announce in 1974 that any government mention of a billion would from then on mean a number with nine zeros.
As the pressure to standardise services increases, general practice partnerships (the current model for most general practice partnerships) will have to be much clearer about designating leadership positions and allowing open debate about strategic organisational development.
Wherever possible we minimised these factors by implementing a 28 day standardised treatment and blood pressure monitoring run-in phase, applying a standardised protocol for blood pressure monitoring and undertaking independent clinical auditing for data verification.
Briefly, information included smoking status and standardised measurements of blood pressure, body height and weight.
Blood pressure was standardised for age and gender to create SD scores and child's weight was statistically controlled in all analyses.
Among other factors the examination included standardised measurements of blood pressure, body weight, body height, waist and hip circumference, and a non-fasting blood sample with subsequent measurements of total serum cholesterol, HDL cholesterol and triglycerides.
In each category, the fall in blood pressure was standardised to the average starting blood pressure across all trials of 154 mmHg systolic and 97 mmHg diastolic; the estimates are the average over 24 hours from combining separate peak and trough estimates.
