29,000 people in Newham undetected with high blood pressure, health campaigners warn

Thousands of people don’t realise they have high blood pressure which could lead to hypertension, strokes and heart disease, it has emerged.

Nearly half the 68,000 men and women estimated to have the condition in the Newham Clinical Commissioning area have not been diagnosed.

Health campaigners say “what’s most scary is that they don’t know they have high blood pressure”.

The details came from yesterday’s public blood monitoring at Bart’s Hospital run by Dr Gurvinder Rull for people in east London at the City taking part in an International Society of Hypertension health charity’s monitoring campaign.

“Hypertension is one of the easiest conditions to prevent and treat,” Dr Rull said.

“Yet it is a leading contribution for deaths, and raises risk of stroke and heart attack. Serious cardiovascular complications can be avoided with early intervention.”

The campaign using donated Omron healthcare equipment highlights gaps in information such as the 29,000 people in the Newham area not having been diagnosed, with almost one-in-five of the total 371,000 population said to have high blood pressure.

It is collecting scientific evidence to influence public policy on blood screening to reduce hypertension that causes 10 million deaths a year worldwide.