Boiling point: Australians still not controlling blood pressure

New research involving more than half a million Australians has found that more than one in three people visiting their General Practitioner records a high blood pressure reading and that at least half do not meet their individualised blood pressure target, placing them at high risk for a future heart attack or stroke.

Leading Australian researchers have called for policy makers, individuals and the medical community to once again prioritise the prevention and management of high blood pressure (known as hypertension) in the wake of the study conducted by Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute and funded by an unrestricted educational research grant from Boehringer Ingelheim.

The Pressure Points in Primary Care Study, which examined the clinical records of 532,050 Australians who had their blood pressure recorded by their General Practitioner between 2005 and 2010, revealed a concerning number (36 per cent) of people with high blood pressure levels or taking blood pressure lowering treatment.

“Overall, these data reaffirm our concern that the number of people suffering from high blood pressure in Australia remains at historically high levels despite widespread awareness of the need to tackle the problem,” said Professor Simon Stewart, Head of Preventative Health at Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute, who led the study.

High blood pressure is the main contributor to cardiovascular disease,1 which claims nearly 50,000 Australian lives each year.

The study found that while around 25 per cent of individuals were on high blood pressure treatment, nearly half (41 per cent) of these patients still had readings above the historically accepted treatment target of 140 over 90 mmHg.

“Unfortunately, taking blood pressure lowering medication doesn’t mean a person has automatically reached a level most likely to protect them from a future heart attack or stroke,” said Professor Stewart.

“In addition to making positive lifestyle changes, individuals with persistently high blood pressure levels need to work closely with their health care team to ensure they are on the right level and combination of treatments as well as regularly review their progress towards their target goal; making changes as required,” he said.

Professor Stewart explained that sub-optimal adherence to prescribed treatment and a reluctance to commit to healthier lifestyle changes were often important contributors to persistently high blood pressure levels.

The study showed that men had consistently higher blood pressure than women up until the age of 65 and that the likelihood of young men (aged between 23 and 34) having high blood pressure was three times that of women in the same age group.

It also found that Australians living in rural areas or from lower socioeconomic regions were at a slightly greater risk of high blood pressure, while a state by state breakdown of the data indicated that people living in Tasmania recorded the highest levels of high blood pressure in the country.

The Pressure Points report calls for the urgent adoption of policies that promote heart health through healthier lifestyles as well as the development of education programs that target all Australians, including school aged children.

The report also urges Australians to improve their lifestyles, have regular blood pressure checks, be aware of their readings and, if necessary, take their medication as prescribed.

“We can only hope that our study provides the impetus for an improvement in blood pressure levels leading to a reduction in highly preventable events such as heart attack and stroke,” Professor Stewart concluded.

(Source:Baker IDI Heart & Diabetes Institute)

More information

For more information on high blood pressure, including investigations and treatments, as well as some useful animations, videos and tools, see Hypertension (High Blood Pressure).