When blood pressure is checked, your doctor should test both arms

When your doctor checks your blood pressure, he probably doesn’t check both arms. But he should.

Many doctors don’t know about this BP secret… A significant difference between systolic pressure in your two arms is a red flag. A BIG one!

This double check is even more important for patients with high blood pressure.

UK researchers studied 230 patients with hypertension. Each patient received three BP tests over 10 years.

Results showed that a wide gap in the systolic measures indicated an increased risk of cardiovascular events. An inter-arm difference of more than 20 mm Hg suggested the potential for vascular disease.

If you have high blood pressure, talk to your doctor about this study.

And ask him to give you a “two-armed” test next time.

Sources:
“The difference in blood pressure readings between arms and survival: primary care cohort study” BMJ, Vol. 344, 3/20/12, bmj.com