England's high blood pressure control improving

"Awareness, treatment, and control of high blood pressure have increased significantly in England, according to a nationally representative health survey reported in Hypertension: Journal of the American Heart Association. Researchers evaluated blood pressure management in 2006 compared to 2003, focusing on heart disease and its prevention. The key findings showed that among those treated, 53 percent of women and 52 percent of men achieved control of high blood pressure in 2006 compared to 44 percent of women and 48 percent of men in 2003. 'This is the first time in England that the majority of those on treatment are actually controlled,' said Neil R. Poulter, M.B.B.S., M.Sc., F.R.C.P., senior author of the study and professor and chairman of Preventive Cardiovascular Medicine at Imperial College London."