Measuring Blood Pressure in Both Arms Can Reduce Hypertension

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Blood Pressure

Blood pressure (BP) is the pressure of circulating blood against the walls of blood vessels. Most of this pressure results from the heart pumping blood through the circulatory system. Blood pressure is usually expressed in systolic pressure (maximum pressure during one heartbeat) over diastolic pressure (minimum pressure between two heartbeats) in the cardiac cycle. Blood pressure is measured in millimeters of mercury (mmHg) above the surrounding atmospheric pressure.

Main Digest

Blood pressure should be measured in both arms, and the higher reading should be adopted to improve hypertension diagnosis and management, according to a new study. The research, led by the University of Exeter, analyzed data from 53,172 participants in 23 studies worldwide to examine the implications of choosing the higher or lower arm pressure.

The study, published in Hypertension, found that using the higher arm blood pressure reading reclassified 12 percent of people as having hypertension, who would have fallen below the threshold for diagnosis if the lower reading arm was used.

Although International guidelines advise checking blood pressure in both arms, the practice is currently not widely adopted in clinics.

Study lead Dr. Christopher Clark, from the University of Exeter, said:

"High blood pressure is a global issue and poor management can be fatal. This study shows that failure to measure both arms and use the higher reading arm will result in underdiagnosis and undertreatment of high blood pressure and under-estimation of cardiovascular risks for millions worldwide."

The team found that using the higher arm measurement compared to using the lower arm resulted in the reclassification of 6572 (12.4%) of participants' systolic blood pressures from below to above 130 mm Hg, and 6339 (11.9%) from below to above 140 mm Hg, moving them above commonly used diagnostic thresholds for hypertension.

Dr. Clark continued:

"It's impossible to predict the best arm for blood pressure measurement as some people have a higher reading in their left arm compared to the right and equal numbers have the opposite. Therefore, it's important to check both arms as detecting high blood pressure correctly is a vital step towards giving the right treatment to the right people".

"Our study now provides the first evidence that the higher reading arm blood pressure is the better predictor of future cardiovascular risk."

The study also revealed that higher arm blood pressure readings better predicted all-cause mortality, cardiovascular mortality, and cardiovascular events compared to the lower arm reading. The authors stressed the importance of assessing both arms in diagnosing and managing hypertension and cardiovascular diseases.

The Paper

The paper is entitled 'Higher Arm Versus Lower Arm Systolic Blood Pressure and Cardiovascular Outcomes: a Meta-Analysis of Individual Participant Data From the INTERPRESS-IPD Collaboration' and is published in Hypertension.

The research was conducted by the international INTERPRESS-IPD Collaboration.

It was funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), Research for Patient Benefit Programme, and supported by the NIHR School for Primary Care Research, NIHR Oxford CLAHRC, NIHR Exeter Clinical Research Facility, Exeter Clinical Trials Unit, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, Beijing and Shanghai Commission of Science and Technology.

Attribution/Source(s):

This peer reviewed article relating to our Cardiovascular section was selected for publishing by the editors of Disabled World due to its likely interest to our disability community readers. Though the content may have been edited for style, clarity, or length, the article "Measuring Blood Pressure in Both Arms Can Reduce Hypertension" was originally written by University of Exeter, and published by Disabled-World.com on 2022/08/04. Should you require further information or clarification, University of Exeter can be contacted at exeter.ac.uk. Disabled World makes no warranties or representations in connection therewith.

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