PHE urges more awareness over high blood pressure

Public Health England (PHE) has urged more adults over 40 to have their blood pressure measured as part of the NHS Health Check, to help identify issues at an early stage.

The PHE warned that as many as 5.5 million adults in England with undiagnosed high blood pressure are risking heart attack, stroke or even vascular dementia.

In its latest edition of Health Matters, PHE has outlined what lifestyle changes should be taken to combat high blood pressure.

Evidence in the Health Matters document showed that: the NHS Health Check helps diagnose a new case of high blood pressure in every 27 checks; despite being largely preventable, diseases caused by high blood pressure cost the NHS over £2.1 billion a year; if the population as a whole reduced their average blood pressure by 5mmHg this could save the NHS, social care, and local authorities £850 million on health and social care costs; £120 million in savings could also be achieved just by increasing the number of adults who have high blood pressure diagnosed by 15 per cent; and over 10 million people, aged 40 to 74, have been invited for an NHS Health Check since it launched in 2013 but just 46 per cent actually took the offer up.

Professor Kevin Fenton, director of Health and Wellbeing at PHE, said: “It is a serious problem when a disease that is largely preventable, like high blood pressure, is one of the leading causes of premature death and ill-health in the country.

“We all memorise important numbers in our lives, whether it’s our PIN and telephone numbers or the latest football scores. Knowing your blood pressure number is an easy step to take that has the potential to save your life.”