England's approach to high blood pressure "not fit for purpose", Oxford study warns
An Oxford University analysis of 1.4 million adults has found more than a third of adults in England have high blood pressure — with 59% unaware they have it — as researchers warn the current approach to detection and treatment is "not fit for purpose".
More than a third of adults in England have high blood pressure, yet 59% of them do not know it, according to an Oxford University analysis of 1.4 million adults published in the journal BMJ Public Health.
Researchers used data from Our Future Health, the UK’s largest health research programme, and defined hypertension as a reading of 140/90 mmHg or higher. They found that only half of adults with high blood pressure who were being treated by a doctor had it adequately under control.
The condition was almost 50% more common in men than women — 42% compared with 29% across all ages — and rose with age.
Progress on detection and control has stalled since around 2011, the authors said, with prevalence now similar to levels seen two decades ago. They blamed a “leaky cascade of care” in which cases slip through undiagnosed or under-treated, partly because NICE guidance requires repeated or at-home readings to confirm a diagnosis before treatment begins.
“While hypertension is largely a silent killer, the current approach to detecting and treating high blood pressure is not fit for purpose,” said lead author Wenyu Liu, medical statistician at Oxford Population Health.
Iain Turnbull, deputy chief medical officer at Our Future Health, called for “a more proactive approach” to detection and treatment.
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