Blood Pressure

Introduction

How common is high blood pressure?

If you are over the age of 30 and can’t remember when you last had your blood pressure checked, you could be one of the seven to ten million people in this country who has high blood pressure. Doctors usually use the term ‘hypertension’ to describe this condition which may cause no symptoms at all for very many years, but could eventually lead to serious complications, including heart disease and strokes.

In this book, the word hypertension is used to mean a blood pressure level that has been found on several separate occasions to be above normal, and that needs to be treated to prevent complications developing in the long term.

Who has high blood pressure?

The condition is very common (10–20 per cent of the population) in the UK and, the older you are, the more likely you are to have developed it. Whether you do so depends on a number of related factors, including:

• heredity

• your diet – and especially the amounts of salt and alcohol that you consume

• your ethnic background

• whether you have diabetes

• whether you are overweight

• whether you take regular exercise.

How is high blood pressure diagnosed?

If all this sounds alarming, there is good news too. Hypertension can be easily diagnosed: your blood pressure can be measured quickly and painlessly at your GP’s surgery or health centre. When the reading is above normal, the check can be repeated three or four times if necessary to establish that the first figure wasn’t a chance finding.

How is high blood pressure treated?

Even if you do have hypertension, you may be one of the many people who don’t need drug treatment for some time (and possibly not ever), provided that you make some straightforward lifestyle changes that will not only lower your blood pressure but bring general health benefits too.

When treatment is required, there are a number of very effective drugs available, which are taken in tablet form usually once daily. Most people find that they have no problems at all with the treatment, but, if you do experience side effects from one drug, there are other, equally effective alternatives.

More modern drugs tend to have very few side effects. Research has shown that controlling hypertension with drug therapy can bring down the risk of a stroke by 35 to 40 per cent, and the risk of coronary heart disease by 20 to 25 per cent.

A symptomless disease

The most important message on hypertension is that you may not know that you have it until it has done you serious damage, unless you have your blood pressure checked. Even quite seriously raised blood pressure can be controlled once it is identified and, provided that you keep taking the treatment prescribed for you and have regular check-ups, your chances of developing serious and potentially life-threatening complications are dramatically reduced.

KEY POINTS

• Hypertension affects seven to ten million people in the UK

• Hypertension is often not diagnosed

• The treatment of hypertension saves lives