TUESDAY, March 20 (HealthDay News) -- Calculating the difference
in blood pressure readings taken from the left and right arms
might help predict a patient's odds of dying from heart disease,
a new study suggests. Researchers found that people with high
blood pressure whose blood pressure varies significantly between
each arm are at higher risk of cardiovascular death over 10
years. The study supports "inter-arm difference as a simple
indicator of increased cardiovascular risk," say a team led by
Dr. Andrew Gould, of the Peninsula College of Medicine and
Dentistry in Plymouth, England. The new findings echo those of a
study published in January in The Lancet. That study, also
conducted by researchers at Peninsula College, reviewed data
from 28 studies looking at differences between systolic blood
pressure [the top number in a reading] between the right and
left arms. The team found that a difference of 15 millimeters of
mercury (mm Hg) or more between readings was linked with an
increased risk of narrowing or