An international team of scientists has found that the difference in blood pressure in the right and left arm may indicate a risk of stroke, heart attack and early death.
This is stated in an article published in the journal Hypertension. The researchers conducted a meta-analysis of 24 different studies involving about 54,000 people from Europe, the United States, Africa and Asia. Experts looked at data on the difference in blood pressure between the arms, tracked the number of deaths, heart attacks and strokes over 10 years.
Significant differences between systolic (upper) blood pressure readings in both arms may indicate narrowing or stiffness of the arteries, which affects blood flow. Each additional millimeter of mercury increases the risk of angina, heart attack or stroke by one percent over the next 10 years. In this case, a difference of 10 millimeters of mercury is the upper limit of the norm.