Why should healthcare professionals measure blood pressure on both arms?

Cardiovascular diseases remain the number one cause of mortality in the world. [1]

To prevent these conditions, regular blood pressure measurement is recommended for all adults. According to ESC/ESH guidelines, blood pressure asymmetry should be detected by measuring blood pressure in both arms. [2]

Interarm blood pressure difference may reflect severe arterial disease; according to ESC/ESH recommendations, a difference of more than 15 mmHg might indicate stenosis or thrombosis in the subclavian artery. [2] Moreover, interarm blood pressure difference has been shown to be related to increased cardiovascular mortality. [3]

For most users of blood pressure monitors, the absence of interarm blood pressure difference means that they can carry out blood pressure measurements in either arm.

Prof. Xavier Girerd, cardiologist and Professor at Sorbonne University in Paris, France, has shared a video of performing blood pressure measurement on one of his patients:

Prof. Xavier Girerd is a regular user of the MESI mTABLET, both in his daily practice as well as in the French nationwide prevention campaign against cardiovascular diseases. He finds the Dual Blood Pressure (DBP) app particularly user-friendly and useful. The DBP app enables the establishment of interarm blood pressure difference in a minimum amount of time. Indeed, the traditional method of successive blood pressure measurements on both arms not only takes time but also sometimes poses interpretation difficulties due to the white coat effect.

Prof. Xavier Girerd states: “Everyone should have their blood pressure measured simultaneously in both arms at least once in their life.”

Prof. Xavier Girerd is a cardiologist and professor of therapeutics (Fr. thérapeutique) at the Sorbonne University Medical School in Paris, France. He founded the Cardiovascular Disease Prevention Unit within the Heart and Metabolism Centre of Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital – Assistance Publique Hôpitaux de Paris, which is recognised as a Hypertension Excellence Centre by the European Society of Hypertension.

He is currently the President of the Foundation for Research on Hypertension (FRHTA) and has been President of the French Society of Hypertension (SFHTA). He is also a full member of the French Society of Cardiology as well as a Fellow of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) and the European Society of Hypertension (ESH). He is the author of more than 250 scientific articles in international medical peer-reviewed journals, and his expertise in the field of hypertension is recognised in France and internationally.