Should Blood Pressure be Measured in Both Arms?

A recent study suggests that blood pressure should actually be measured in both arms to better identify certain risk factors and clues that could potentially detect cardiovascular issues. According to researchers, though most blood pressure measurements are taken using only one arm, measuring interarm blood pressure involves taking two reading from each arms-which can show blood pressure differences as much as 10 mmHg or greater.

For the study, researchers examined 3,390 participants aged 40 years and older from the Framingham Heart Study. All of the subjects were free of cardiovascular disease at baseline, yet investigators found that participants with higher interarm systolic blood pressure differences were at a higher risk for future cardiovascular problems than those with less than a 10 mm Hg difference between both arms.

"In this large prospective, community based cohort of middle-age men and women free of cardiovascular disease, an increased interarm systolic blood pressure difference was found to be present in nearly 10% of individuals and is associated with increased levels of traditional cardiovascular risk factors," said lead investigator Ido Weinberg, MD, Institute for Heart Vascular and Stroke Care, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, via a press release. "Furthermore, an increased interarm systolic blood pressure difference is associated with an increased risk for incident cardiovascular events, independent of traditional cardiovascular risk factors."

Researchers also discovered that participants who showed signs of elevated interarm blood pressure differences were at a greater risk for higher systolic blood pressure, diabetes mellitus and a higher total cholesterol level.

The study authors said they believe that these findings suggest that practitioners should start to consider taking blood pressure readings in both arms for a more accurate responsible and a better detection of possible future issues.

"Even modest differences in clinically-measured systolic blood pressures in the upper extremities reflect an increase in cardiovascular risk," Weinberg concluded, via the release. "This study supports the potential value of identifying the interarm systolic blood pressure difference as a simple clinical indicator of increased cardiovascular risk."

What do you think?

More information regarding the study can be found via the American Journal of Medicine.