Kids need bilateral BP measurements: study
One in four children have a 5mmHg difference in systolic BP between their right and left arms, report Australian researchers
Doctors are being urged to use both arms to determine blood pressure in paediatric patients, with a landmark Australian study suggesting single arm measurements could lead to a missed hypertension diagnosis.
Based on data from 118 children aged 7-18 attending either for an MRI or a cardiology outpatient clinic, the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute researchers found a median difference of 5mmHg in systolic BP between the right and left arms.
Among the 95 healthy children who all had normal aortas (with 15 having a history of