Double check: Doctors should take blood pressure readings in both arms of patients, experts say (file photo)
- Study by University of Exeter tested 3,000 people aged between 50 and 70
- Found checking both arms could raise warning flag to heart disease early
- Experts say doctors and nurses rarely check both arms, despite guidelines
Published:
00:35 GMT, 15 April 2016
|
Doctors
should take blood pressure readings in both arms of patients, experts
say, after they found a difference was linked to a severe heart risk.
Those
with just five points’ variation were twice as likely to have died from
heart disease in the next eight years, a study revealed.
Time-pressed doctors and nurses rarely check both arms, the researchers said, despite guidelines recommending it.
Previous
studies have already highlighted the significance of a discrepancy in
blood pressure for patients already diagnosed with heart disease.
This is because it can indicate a blockage in a major artery on one side of the body.
But until now, no studies had been carried out on those yet to receive a diagnosis.
The
new research, led by the University of Exeter, suggests that regularly
recording blood pressure in both arms could be a cheap and simple way to
raise a warning flag years before people displayed other symptoms.
The team –
whose findings are published today in the British Journal of General
Practice – tested 3,000 Scottish people aged between 50 and 70.
Participants
were all healthy, with no symptoms of heart disease – but they had
already been roughly identified as being at a higher risk because they
had high blood pressure in their ankles.
Researchers measured each person’s blood pressure in both arms.
Readings are routinely expressed as two numbers: systolic – the upper number – and diastolic – the lower one.
The experts
found that even a difference in systolic blood pressure measurements
between the two arms of 5mm/Hg was linked to almost double the risk of
death from heart-related disease over the next eight years.
Alarmingly, some 60 per cent of the test subjects exhibited this disparity in their readings.
Dr
Chris Clark, a GP and senior lecturer at Exeter University Medical
School, said: ‘Guidelines state that blood pressure should be measured
in both arms when assessing patients for hypertension, but often this
advice is not followed due to time constraints or lack of awareness. For
accuracy – to overcome natural blood pressure fluctuations – it is
important to test both arms simultaneously to confirm any difference.
‘However
... if one arm is tested before the other – with just a single pair of
measures – it is still possible to identify nearly all those who will
prove to have an inter-arm difference on further testing.’
‘Suitable
lifestyle advice can then be targeted at individuals identified in this
way and could make a difference to their future health.’
Professor
Jeremy Pearson, associate medical director at the British Heart
Foundation, said: ‘Differences in blood pressure between arms has
previously been linked with an increased risk of dying from
cardiovascular disease in those that already have the condition or are
at very high risk.
‘But this study found that healthy people without pre-existing heart disease may also have an increased risk.
'The
findings support current guidance that blood pressure should be
measured in both arms when assessing someone for hypertension.'
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