Different blood pressure readings from left and right arm may indicate increased risk of heart attack, stroke and death In fact, blood pressure should be measured in both arms during a proper cardiovascular disease risk assessment. Myupchar December 22, 2020 14:01:53 IST Blood pressure measurement. Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons
While most people know of the harm both high blood pressure (hypertension) and low blood pressure (hypotension) can do to the body, many wouldn’t know that the smallest factors could alter blood pressure measurements. Of course, the calibration and handling of the blood pressure machine itself matter but so do individual factors like how your arm is placed or what your body position is.
Measuring blood pressure is a common occurrence in doctors’ offices. Blood pressure that is too high (hypertension) can increase the risk of serious health conditions, and pressure that is too low (hypotension) can cause light-headedness and fainting. Previous studies have shown that blood pressure readings can vary depending on where on the body the measurement is taken from, and can even be different in each arm. However, new findings published in the journal Hypertension suggest that this variance could have major implications.
The study was conducted by the Inter-arm Blood Pressure Difference - Individual Participant Data (INTERPRESS-IPD) Collaboration and led by the University of Exeter. They analyzed data from 24 studies where blood pressure in both arms was measured. The studies were conducted internationally, with 14 from Western Europe, 7 from the US, 2 from East Asia, and 1 from Sub-Saharan Africa. Data was collected from 53,827 participants whose deaths, heart attacks,