PHYSICIANS OFFICE
RESOURCE NEWS BRIEFS
Selected by POR Editorial Board
M
odern BP Difference
Between Arms Can
Signal Increased Risk
(hazard ratio, 1.38; 95 percent confidence interval,
1.09 to 1.75). Compared with those who had a
normal interarm difference in systolic blood
pressure, those who had an increased interarm
difference typically were older with a higher
prevalence of diabetes mellitus, increased systolic
blood pressure, and higher total cholesterol level.
"Measurement of blood pressure in both
arms is important both for accurate blood
pressure detection and for cardiovascular risk
stratification," the authors write.
Interarm difference in systolic
blood pressure is common
and may indicate increased risk for future
cardiovascular events, according to research
published in the March issue of the American
Journal of Medicine.
Ido Weinberg, M.D., of the Massachusetts
General Hospital in Boston, and colleagues
followed 3,390 members of two cohorts, aged
40 years and older (mean age, 61.1 years),
N
octurnal Respiratory
Rate Predicts Cardiac
Risk After MI
Among survivors of acute
myocardial infarction (MI), nocturnal
respiratory rate (NRR) is significantly
associated with cardiac mortality, particularly
non-sudden cardiac death, according to
research published online March 5 in the
Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
Michael Dommasch, M.D., of the
Medizinische Klinik der Technischen Universität
München, and colleagues applied an algorithm
to data from Holter electrocardiographic
recordings for 1,538 MI survivors to determine
NRR. The researchers examined the association
between NRR and cardiac death.
The researchers found that NRR was 18.6
per minute or greater in 384 patients and less
than 18.6 per minute in 1,154 patients; fiveyear cardiac mortality in these groups was
13.7 and 3.3 percent, respectively (P < 0.001).
NRR of 18.6 per minute or greater was
significantly associated with non-sudden
cardiac death (hazard ratio, 4.56; 95 percent
confidence interval, 2.21 to 9.43; P < 0.001).
Among 155 patients with left ventricular
consisting of participants of the Framingham
Heart Study and their offspring. The authors
sought to investigate the association between
difference in interarm systolic blood pressure
and risk of cardiovascular disease. The
participants were free of cardiovascular disease at
baseline. An increased difference in systolic blood
pressure between arms was defined as a 10 mm
Hg or greater difference using the average of two
blood pressure readings in each arm.
The researchers found that, after multivariable
adjustment, an interarm systolic blood pressure
difference was associated with significantly
increased risk of incident cardiovascular events
21
www.PhysiciansOfficeResource.com