What gives Warrington people high blood pressure?

A TOTAL of 51,700 people are estimated to have hypertension – high blood pressure – in Warrington…significantly higher than the average for the whole of England.
The number who have been diagnosed is about 29,000, or 56.3 per cent – a similar level to England.
But only 44.7 per cent, or 23,000 have the condition controlled – significantly lower than the national figure.
A survey produced by the National Cardiovascular Intelligence Network, in partnership with the Public Health England blood pressure team, places Warrington 296 out of 326 similar local authorities.
Hypertension Profiles show each local authority how well it is doing in detecting and treating high blood pressure by comparing its performance with that of similar authorities and with the rest of England.
High blood pressure is one of the leading risk factors for premature death and disability, and can lead to stroke, heart attack, heart failure, chronic kidney disease and dementia.  Contributory factors are known to be obesity, smoking, lack of exercise and excess alcohol consumption.
Conditions caused by high blood pressure cost the NHS over £2bn every year. By reducing the blood pressure of the nation as a whole, £850m of NHS and social care spend could be avoided over 10 years.
Experts know from international comparison that there is significant scope for improvement.
In Canada for example seven out of every 10 adults with high blood pressure are both diagnosed and managed to recommended levels whereas in England we only achieve this in four out of 10.
To match Canada’s achievement in Warrington, 11,000 more people would have to have to be diagnosed and have their condition controlled.
Lorraine Oldridge, director of National Cardiovascular Intelligence Network, Public Health England, said: “We’re proud to be launching these profiles in order to help lower the prevalence of high blood pressure which still remains a public health problem across all regions in England. By providing hard data local authorities can see how they compare to nearby regions and set new targets to reduce their levels of hypertension amongst their population.”