THE SILENT KILLER: New blood pressure survey findings and
expert comment from Kinetik Wellbeing and St John's
Ambulance available next week.
16 million people in Britain have high blood pressure. 5.5 million
people are unaware that they have it.*
High blood pressure is known as The Silent Killer.
It is largely symptomless with the result that thousands of people go
undiagnosed every year.
High blood pressure is a major risk factor for heart
disease (causing over half of all strokes and heart attacks), kidney
disease and vascular dementia.
The number of people in the UK dying from heart and
circulatory diseases before the age of 75 is RISING. The yearly mortality
rate is in excess of 75,000.
80% of all sufferers of high blood pressure do not take
their medication because they feel fine.
The cost to the NHS is over £2.1 billion annually.
Causes of high blood pressure can be attributed to smoking, too much alcohol, being overweight, a lack of exercise, stress, too much salt in the diet, older age, genetics and sleep apnea, while people in deprived areas are more likely to have high blood pressure.
Every adult in the UK would benefit from a blood
pressure machine.
KinetikWellbeing are offering complimentary BP monitoring machines
for review and survey findings will be available upon request ahead
of Blood Pressure Awareness Week.
If you would like to participate in the awareness
campaign, contact Melanie at melanie@kbapr.com.
*Source: British Heart Foundation