New research has revealed that two third of those in the UK with high blood pressure do not know they have it.
The new study of 1.4m adults found that more than one-third of adults in England have high blood pressure and two-thirds of these are unaware of their diagnosis.
Published in BMJ Public Health, the study also reported that only half of adults with high blood pressure treated by a doctor are adequately controlled.
Researchers from Oxford Population Health analysed clinic blood pressure measurements collected by Our Future Health, the UK’s largest health research programme, from participants who enrolled between 2022-2025. It was found that over one-third (37 per cent) of participants had hypertension, ranging from one-sixth (15 per cent) in those aged 18-39 to three-quarters (71 per cent) in those aged 80 or older. Hypertension was almost 50 per cent more common in men than women (42 per cent vs 29 per cent after age-standardisation). And for almost two-thirds (59 per cent) of people with hypertension it was undetected.
Wenyu Liu, Medical Statistician at Oxford Population Health and lead author of the study, commented: “While hypertension is largely a ‘silent killer’, the current approach to detecting and treating high blood pressure is not fit for purpose. Our study highlights the prevalence of hypertension across demographics. This underscores the need for population-wide prevention strategies alongside targeted treatment for people at high cardiovascular risk.”
Iain Turnbull, Deputy Chief Medical Officer at Our Future Health, Clinical Research Fellow at Oxford Population Health, and GP added: “Many patients with high blood pressure are undetected or are sub-optimally treated. There is a need for a more proactive approach to detection of high blood pressure and to consider initiation of treatment based on predicted risk of cardiovascular disease in addition to levels of blood pressure.”
And Professor Bryan Williams, Chief Scientific and Medical Officer at the British Heart Foundation, went on: ‘This study paints a concerning picture of the scale of undetected high blood pressure in the UK, and the challenges of keeping blood pressure under control in those already receiving treatment. High blood pressure remains the leading modifiable risk factor for cardiovascular disease, linked to around half of heart attacks and strokes in the UK. The worrying reality is that millions of people are still living with the condition without knowing it and missing opportunities for early diagnosis and treatment. Better detection and treatment could help tens of thousands of people to avoid a preventable heart attack and stroke. But to achieve this, we will need to rethink how we identify, treat and support those at-risk so that blood pressure checks and effective treatment can benefit everyone.”
