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London, December 27 (SocialNews.XYZ) The difference in blood pressure reading between the arms is linked to an increased risk of heart attack, stroke and death, a large international study has found.
Led by the University of Exeter, the global collaboration conducted a meta-analysis of all available research, then merged data from 24 global studies to create a database of nearly 54,000 people.
The data covered adults from Europe, the United States, Africa and Asia for whom blood pressure measurements for both arms were available.
Funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) and published in the journal Hypertension, the study is the first to find that the greater the difference in blood pressure between the arms, the greater the additional risk to the health of the patient. .
“Checking one arm and then the other with a commonly used blood pressure monitor is inexpensive and can be done in any health care setting, without the need for additional or expensive equipment,” said the lead author Dr Chris Clark from the University of Exeter School of Medicine.
Although international guidelines currently recommend that this be done, it only happens half the time at best, usually due to time constraints.
“Our research shows that the little extra time it takes to measure both arms could ultimately save lives,” Clark said.
The research could lead to a change in international hypertension guidelines, meaning more patients at risk could be identified and receive potentially life-saving treatment.
“We have long known that a difference in blood pressure between the two arms is linked to poorer health outcomes. The large numbers involved in the INTERPRESS-IPD study help us understand this in more detail, ”Clark noted.
“Patients who need blood pressure monitoring should now expect it to be checked in both arms, at least once.”
Blood pressure rises and falls in a cycle with each pulse.
A significant difference between the systolic blood pressure readings in the two arms could be a sign of narrowing, or stiffening, of the arteries, which can affect blood flow.
These arterial changes are recognized as another risk marker for heart attack, stroke, or premature death and should be investigated for treatment.
The researchers concluded that each difference in mmHg found between the two arms increased the predicted 10-year risk of any of the following events by 1%; new angina, heart attack, or stroke.
Research co-author Professor Victor Aboyans, head of the cardiology department at CHU Dupuytren in Limoges, France, said: “We believe that a difference of 10 mmHg can now reasonably be considered an upper limit of the normal for the systolic interarm blood pressure, when the two arms are measured in sequence during routine clinical appointments.
An interarm difference greater than 10 mmHg occurs in 11% of people with high blood pressure (hypertension) and in 4% of the general population, the authors noted.
Source: IANS
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