The difference in blood pressure between the left arm and the right indicates the possibility of survival

MADRID, 21 (EUROPA PRESS)

Patients who suffer from high blood pressure, and have different blood pressure (PA) registers in each arm, have a lower chance of survival, says a study published in the ' BMJ '. The authors of the Peninsula College of medicine and dentistry, in United Kingdom, claim that the national guidelines, which advise doctors to measure blood pressure in both arms, not are being routinely followed; and argue that they should become partly routine of measuring blood pressure and its subsequent treatment.

The findings of this work support a study recently published by the same authors, which suggests that the different readings on each arm predict a reduction in survival, and are associated with an increase in the likelihood of death. The new study seeks to determine to what extent the difference in survival after 10 years applies.

The study continued to 230 patients between 1999 and 2002, all participants were suffering from high blood pressure, and they were patients of a general practitioner in the countryside of Devon. Blood pressure is measured, often in both arms in healthy women in antenatal care, and in patients with a cardiovascular risk higher than normal due to diabetes, chronic kidney disease, or peripheral vascular disease. Studies have shown that the presence of a difference in the PA of both arms has contributed to delays in diagnosis and the poor control of high blood pressure.

After adjustments for age and sex, the results show an increase of 9% in the risk of death by each mmHg difference in blood pressure in the arms; what led the authors to suggest that the measurement in both arms should be a routine measure in all patients receiving treatment for hypertension.

The study adds important new information to the evidence that supports the need to detect a difference, and the sponsors hoped that it will help to improve the measurement and management of high blood pressure.

In an editorial accompanying, Dae Hyun Kim, Harvard Medical School says that, in patients with a difference on both arms, the subsequent follow-up of blood pressure should be in the arm with the higher reading.