High Blood Pressure Tricky To Find In Smokers
Posted on: Sunday, 26 July 2009, 10:45 CDT
High blood pressure is harder to find in smokers, even though they have at higher risk of heart disease.
A study of 20,000 British men and women discovered that smokers were not as aware that they suffered from high blood pressure as those who do not smoke.
The University College London research team stated that finding the condition was incredibly vital in smokers. Finding the condition can also encourage people to stop, heart experts said.
Smoking and high blood pressure, or hypertension, can cause an early death, the researchers published in the European Journal of Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation.
It is encouraged that doctors firmly suggest that those with high blood pressure quit smoking and that more effort should be made to find indications of the condition in smokers.
The study, which pulled statistics from the Health Survey for England in 2003 and 2006, discovered advances being made over time in the amount of people who were aware that they had high blood pressure.
However, it was not found as often in people who smoked compared with non-smokers, or those who have quit smoking.
In those smokers with a diagnosed condition, they were more probable to have been told by a doctor to quit smoking than those were not aware that they had hypertension, and therefore quit.
One motive for the pitfalls of the diagnosis could be that the smokers who participated in the study were thinner than the non-smokers.
The researchers noted that GPs could be more prone to test blood pressure in people who were obese.
Study author Dr. Jennifer Mindell found it unacceptable that smokers with high blood pressure were not being properly diagnosed.
"It's important to pick up high blood pressure in everybody but it's particularly important in somebody who already has a higher than average risk of heart disease or stroke, including those who smoke.”
"And anything that gives people additional motivation to quit must be a good thing. It is a reminder for GPs that measuring blood pressure in smokers, even if they are thin, is important," Mindell said to BBC News.
June Davison, a cardiac nurse from the British Heart Foundation, added: "It is crucial that smokers are aware of their blood pressure as smoking and high blood pressure are among the most common risk factors for cardiovascular disease.”
"This study also highlights that if smokers are made aware of their high blood pressure, it can increase their motivation to stop smoking.
She added that smokers over the age of 40 should go for a health check where their blood pressure will be measured and advice on quitting smoking can be given.”
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Source: redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports
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User Comments (1)
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Posted by Ex Smoker on 08/06/2009, 11:26 As an ex smoker to discover that smokers miss out on blood pressure detection is another reason to be cheerful. Heaven knows wha t my blood pressure readings would be. |
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