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The next time you get your blood pressure checked, you may consider asking the physician to take it in both arms. The reason: A difference in blood pressure readings between arms is linked to a greater risk of heart attack, stroke and death, according to researchers. They conclude that the higher the blood pressure difference between the two arms, the greater is a person’s additional health risk.
According to the authors, international blood pressure guidelines currently advise health professionals to measure blood pressure in both arms when assessing cardiovascular risk, but this is widely ignored. The latest findings could lead to a change in international hypertension guidelines, meaning more at-risk patients could be identified and receive potentially life-saving treatment, they emphasize in the report published in the journal, Hypertension.
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Robust evidence from a large international study confirms that a difference in blood pressure readings between arms is linked to greater risk of heart attack, stroke and death.
Led by the University of Exeter, the global INTERPRESS-IPD Collaboration conducted a meta-analysis of all the available research, then merged data from 24 global studies to create a database of nearly 54,000 people. The data spanned adults from Europe, the US, Africa and Asia for whom blood pressure readings for both arms were available.
Funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) and published today in
Hypertension, the study is the first to conclude that the greater the inter-arm blood pressure difference, the greater the patient s additional health risk.
Taking blood pressure measurements from both arms could help save lives, researchers have said.
UK experts found robust evidence that a difference in blood pressure between both arms is linked to a greater risk of heart attack, stroke and death.
Their findings are based on data gathered from 24 global studies of nearly 54,000 people, spanning Europe, the US, Africa and Asia.
International blood pressure guidelines advise health professionals to measure blood pressure in both arms when assessing cardiovascular risk, but this is widely ignored , the experts claim.
Current UK and European guidelines on what constitutes a risk in terms of blood pressure differences between the arms – known as bilateral blood pressure – should be lowered from 15 to 10 millimetres of mercury (mmHg), they say.