Evidence map›Paper›PMID 19520026›Full record

ArticleThe British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners2009

Inter-arm blood pressure difference in type 2 diabetes: a barrier to effective management?

Christopher E Clark, Colin J Greaves, Philip H Evans, Andy Dickens, John L Campbell

Abstract readMulticenter Study
In one paragraph

Article in The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners, 2009. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 19 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
19citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

19 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Prevalence of systolic inter-arm differences in blood pressure for different primary care populations: systematic review and meta-analysis.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2016
    Pooled it
  3. Article
  4. Inter-Arm Blood Pressure Difference an Indicator of Coronary Artery Disease.High blood pressure & cardiovascular prevention : the official journal of the Italian Society of Hypertension · 2023
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  15. Inter-arm blood pressure differences in young, healthy patients.Journal of clinical hypertension (Greenwich, Conn.) · 2013
    Article
  16. Association of interleg BP difference with overall and cardiovascular mortality in hemodialysis.Clinical journal of the American Society of Nephrology : CJASN · 2012
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  18. Hypertension guidelines.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2009
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  19. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Christopher E ClarkInstitute of Health Service Research, Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry, Exeter, Devon. christopher.clark@pms.ac.uk
Colin J Greaves
Philip H Evans
Andy Dickens
John L Campbell

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundPrevious studies have identified a substantial prevalence of a blood pressure difference between arms in various populations, but not patients with type 2 diabetes. Recognition of such a difference would be important as a potential cause of underestimation of blood pressure.

aimTo measure prevalence of an inter-arm blood pressure difference in patients with type 2 diabetes, and to estimate how frequently blood pressure measurements could be erroneously underestimated if an inter-arm difference is unrecognised. DESIGN OF STUDY: Cross-sectional study.

settingFive surgeries covered by three general practices, Devon, England.

methodPatients with type 2 diabetes underwent bilateral simultaneous blood pressure measurements using a validated protocol. Mean blood pressures were calculated for each arm to derive mean systolic and diastolic differences, and to estimate point prevalence of predefined magnitudes of difference.

resultsA total of 101 participants were recruited. Mean age was 66 years (standard deviation [SD] = 13.9 years); 59% were male, and mean blood pressure was 138/79 mmHg (SD = 15/10 mmHg). Ten participants (10%; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 4 to 16) had a systolic inter-arm difference > or =10 mmHg; 29 (29%; 95% CI = 20 to 38) had a diastolic difference >/=5 mmHg; and three (3%; 95% CI = 0 to 6) a diastolic difference > or =10 mmHg. No confounding variable was observed to account for the magnitude of an inter-arm difference.

conclusionA systolic inter-arm difference > or =10 mmHg was observed in 10% of patients with diabetes. Failure to recognise this would misclassify half of these as normotensive rather than hypertensive using the lower-reading arm. New patients with type 2 diabetes should be screened for an inter-arm blood pressure difference.

Indexed as

ArmAgedBlood PressureBlood Pressure DeterminationCross-Sectional StudiesDiabetes Mellitus, Type 2Diabetic AngiopathiesFemaleHumansHypertensionMale

Identifiers

PMID19520026
PMCPMC2688045

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.