The blood stress is commonly very totally different between the arms

The results, published online December 21 in the journal Hypertension, are based on 24 studies from around the world that involved nearly 54,000 adults. Over 10 years, 11% had a fatal or non-fatal heart attack or stroke.

According to Clark, it’s normal for blood pressure to fluctuate a bit between the two arms – due to anatomy and the fact that one hand is usually dominant.

“Our interest was to find out when that difference is big enough to mean more than this,” said Clark. “When is the difference big enough to indicate a change in the arteries that could put an additional risk of stroke or heart attack?”

Overall, his team found, people’s risks began to increase when the two arms had a systolic blood pressure difference of at least 5 points (the “highest” number on a blood pressure reading).

For every 1 point increase, the risk of dying from heart disease increased by 1% to 2% for the next 10 years. Meanwhile, the chances of having a heart problem or a stroke for the first time also increased.

These increases were small, but the researchers said a 10 point difference in systolic pressure between the arms should be considered the “upper limit of normal”.

Differences between arms are more common in people with high blood pressure, Clark said, but people with normal readings can have them too.

The phenomenon is more important for someone with high blood pressure or other risk factors like diabetes and high cholesterol, he added.

Berger said it wasn’t clear why so few health care providers measure blood pressure in both arms.

“This is not a new finding,” he said of the current study. “It’s been shown many times.”

At the moment, Berger suggested that the next time they check their blood pressure, patients should ask questions: If this is not done in both arms, why not?

Regarding home blood pressure monitoring, he said if people repeatedly notice a significant difference between the arms, they should tell their doctor.

Clark also advocated that doctors check both arms at least once – in part to get more accurate measurements of patients’ blood pressure. If an arm has a higher value, future measurements should be taken on that arm.