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On World Hypertension Day, Dr Shahed Ahmad, National Clinical Director for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention; Helen Williams, National Specialty Advisor for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention; and Dr Sam Finnikin, National Clinical Specialist Advisor in Personalised Care for Cardiovascular Disease, outline why prioritising hypertension management can save lives and reduce health inequalities.

Poor cardiovascular health can lead to a multitude of serious health issues including heart attacks, strokes, heart failure, and the onset of vascular dementia.

In total, cardiovascular disease (CVD) contributes to a quarter of all deaths in the UK. However, CVD doesnt affect everyone equally, for example we know that people from South Asian and Black groups are at higher risk, and CVD also accounts for one-fifth of the life expectancy gap between the most and least deprived communities in England.

CVD also has a significant economic burden with around one million hospital admissions in England in 2019/20, leading to 5.5 million bed days. This costs the health system an estimated 7.4 billion and the wider economy around 15.8 billion every year.

And yet, CVD is largely preventable. This is why the NHS Long Term Plan identified it as the single biggest area where the NHS can save lives, through lifestyle changes and earlier detection and treatment.

Hypertension, or high blood pressure, is a key risk factor for CVD and affects 1 in 4 adults, half of whom are undiagnosed or their blood pressure is not controlled. Acting to lower blood pressure can reduce the risk it poses to health. A 10mmHg reduction in blood pressure results in a reduced risk of coronary heart disease (17%), stroke (27%), heart failure (28%) and all-cause mortality (13%) (Ettehad, 2016).

Understandably, hypertension management was significantly impacted during the COVID-19 pandemic. In March 2020, 67.5% of 18 to 79-year-olds with hypertension had a recorded blood pressure within target, but by March 2021 this had fallen to 46.1%.

The latest data shows recovery is underway, but the national ambition is to ensure 80% of patients with hypertension are treated to target by 2029, with a key objective for systems to increase blood pressure control to 77% by March 2024.

Last year, NHS England set out our approach to CVD prevention recovery detailing four high-impact areas that are driving the detection, monitoring and treatment of high-risk conditions. Some examples of how this has been put into practice include:

We have also seen many examples of teams adopting their own innovative solutions to improve hypertension control. Examples include Bharani Medical Centre in Slough who reaped the benefits of proactively improving their practices control rates, and a project led by two GP practices in Lambeth which had a particular focus to improve control of hypertension among people of black African and black Caribbean descent.

Underpinning all of this is the application of population health management principles to target our resources and taking a personalised care approach that is responsive to our patients needs.

Supported self-management can enable patients to monitor their blood pressure at home and, with support from social prescribers or health and wellbeing coaches, make positive lifestyle changes, such as losing weight or stopping smoking.

Many people struggle to engage with health services which can make identifying and managing people with high blood pressure a challenge. Tackling this involves Making Every Contact Count, engaging with local communities and utilising the existing resources such as peer support and voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations. Bridging the gap to healthcare services could help reduce health inequalities and improve health.

Focusing on CVD prevention is one of the most clinical and cost-effective ways of improving the health of our communities. A lot of great work is already being done in this area, and by applying the data we have, working across the whole of health and social care and engaging with the community, we can go further and realise the improvements that are yet to be made.

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NHS England Under control: why getting to grips with blood ... - NHS England