reference arm for blood pressure measurement in stroke survivors

Background: averting recurrent stroke among stroke survivors requires a choice of the appropriate arm for blood pressure (bp) measurement, especially among high - risk survivors. objectives: this study aimed at determining the appropriate arm for bp measurement in stroke survivors. methods: this cross sectional study comprised of 100 volunteer and willing stroke survivors enrolled using the convenient sampling technique from 2 public hospitals in maiduguri, nigeria. each participant’s bp was measured as stipulated by previous studies. descriptive statistics were used to summarize the socio - demographics and clinical characteristics of the stroke survivors. student’s t - test for independent samples was used to compare mean bp between unaffected and affected arms of the participants. results: mean age and age range of the participants in years were 53.8 + 17.7 and 20 to 90, respectively. participants that had had a stroke within the previous 7 months accounted for 69.0% of cases. spastic stroke constituted 71%. sides of the body afflicted with stroke were equally distributed. a significant difference (p = 0.017) existed in blood pressure between unaffected and affected arms of stroke survivors. conclusions: health workers involved in the management of stroke patients were advised to take blood pressure measurement from both the affected and non-affected arms; the arm with the higher value should be taken as the reference arm.