High Blood Pressure Still a Major Health Issue

One in five adults have high blood pressure, despite more than $1billion being spent on managing the condition each year.
The statistics , published in the April edition of Heart, Lung and Circulation Journal and analysed by Dr Robert Grenfell, National Director of Cardiovascular Health at the Heart Foundation show:

• 200,000 Australians have severe high blood pressure
  
  


• One million Australians are taking medication yet their blood pressure is not reaching targets


• Only 1.46 million have their blood pressure controlled


• The remaining hypertensive adults have unmanaged blood pressure

Dr Grenfell said in Australia a third of those experiencing a heart attack reported having either unmanaged or uncontrolled high blood pressure.
“High blood pressure is one of the major risk factors for heart disease, so it’s not surprising that heart disease continues to be the leading single cause of death for Australian men and women,” Dr Grenfell said.“High blood pressure is often called a ‘silent killer’, because there are no symptoms or signs - you can have high blood pressure and feel well.
“Many of the 4.6 million Australians were unaware they were at risk or even had high blood pressure, because they hadn’t been checked by their own GP. The only way to find out if your blood pressure is high is by having it checked regularly by a health professional.
“One of the best steps a person can take to lower their blood pressure is to reduce the amount of salt in their diet, as well as being active and quitting smoking.”
The survey results also showed:

• Forty percent of people with high blood pressure are obese, with a further 35% overweight (75% combined)


• Over a third of those with unmanaged or uncontrolled blood pressure also have high cholesterol levels


• Three in four adults did no or very little physical activity

 The Australian Health Survey biomedical survey is conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics and funded by the Department of Health and Ageing and the Heart Foundation. Voluntary blood and urine samples were tested from 11,000 survey respondents across the country.