Can repeated blood pressure measurements be harmful?

Can repeated blood pressure measurements be harmful?

Usually there is no harm with repeated blood pressure measurements. But it could cause discomfort due to repeated inflation of the blood pressure cuff over the arm. Too frequent automatic measurements during ambulatory monitoring can occasionally cause erythema over the arm. Frequent measurements at night could also disturb sleep. That is why the frequency of measurement is usually programmed lower at night.

In rare situations where there is an artificial arteriovenous fistula created in the fore arm to facilitate hemodialysis, repeated blood pressure measurements on that arm could reduce the flow through the AV fistula and cause it to get occluded. Hence it is advised that those individuals should not have their blood pressure checked on the arm with the AV fistula.