wA general practitionerarned that seemingly minor errors in measuring blood pressure could lead to a misdiagnosis of hypertension in some individuals.
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He explained that the way the patient sits and the position of his arm during the examination can clearly affect the accuracy of the reading.
The UK's National Health Service (NHS) advises sitting quietly for at least five minutes before having your blood pressure measured, with your back supported, feet flat on the floor, and your arm resting on a firm surface at heart level. However, these precautions are not always followed in clinics, especially busy ones, which can lead to inaccurate readings and inappropriate treatment decisions.
The Daily Mail quoted Dr. Dean Eggett, a general practitioner at the agency, as saying that accurate blood pressure measurement is essential to identifying people at risk of damage from high blood pressure and treating them correctly.
He added that overtreatment and the side effects of medications can cause real harm, especially in patients most at risk of health problems, noting that improper measurement methods can lead to inappropriate treatment decisions and affect patients' quality of life.
This warning came in the wake of a 2024 study by researchers from Johns Hopkins Medicine involving 133 adults aged 18 to 80, to investigate the effect of arm position on the accuracy of blood pressure measurement.
The study showed that letting the arm hang unsupported at the side of the body increased the systolic blood pressure reading (the top number) by about 6.5 mmHg, while the diastolic reading increased by about 4.4 mmHg. Placing the arm on the thighs also increased the systolic reading by about 4 mmHg.
The researchers believed that these differences might be large enough to influence the decision to diagnose some patients with high blood pressure.
It is likely that leaving the arm hanging down leads to muscle contraction and a temporary increase in blood pressure, while placing it on the thighs may increase the distance between the arm and the heart and affect the reading.
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