February is American Heart Month

This month, February, has been set aside to focus our attention on heart disease .   The President had his say, albeit yesterday, as required by law .  And even  Men's Health jumped into the foray by pointing out a study just published in Lancet demonstrating that a difference of 10-15mm Hg in blood pressure between one's arms is associated with an increase risk of heart disease and death.  Over the last year since I started my practice, I've made a habit of checking blood pressure in both arms.  But this was more for accuracy's sake than anything else.  Rarely, actually never, did I find such a large difference in blood pressure readings.