The assessment of the clinical significance of inter-arm blood pressure difference and depression in general practice: A health initiative cross sectional study

Introduction and aim: Blood pressure (BP) recordings often differ between arms. This study is aimed to observe the presence of inter-arm blood pressure difference and association with depression. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study conducted at Sri Aurobindo Medical College & P. G. Institute, Indore, India among 477 patients. Ethical approval was obtained from IREC. The age, height, weight, history of disease, blood pressure in both arms and depression level were recorded. Results: Absolute Inter-arm Difference (AID) was present in SBP of 80.5%, DBP of 74.8% and found >10 mm Hg in SBP of 5.0% while in DBP of 3.8%. Increase in the AID was measured strongly (p<0.001) significant. The levels of depression were strongly (p<0.001) associated with AID in SBP and DBP. The Mean DS was very high (65.60±19.11) and 48.2% patients had severe depression. The average left and right; SBP were 131.3±18.50 and 129.8±17.00 mm Hg respectively; while DBP were 84.84±10.90 and 83.77±9.70 mm Hg respectively. A significant (p<0.001) correlation is observed for Inter-arm blood pressure for SBP and DBP. SBP was moderately while DBP was fairly correlated with age; BMI and depression score. Conclusions: The presence of Inter-arm blood pressure difference may be regarded as a simple marker for diseases. Severe depression may be used as a simple indicator of increased disease risk and a contributory factor, delaying the diagnosis. Abbreviation: IREC:-Institutional Research & Ethical Committee, AID:-Absolute Inter-arm Difference, SBP:-Systolic Blood Pressure; DBP:-Diastolic Blood Pressure, DS:-Depression Score and BMI:-Body Mass Index.