Millions could receive drugs for high blood pressure in effort to prevent heart attacks and strokes

Sign up for our free Health Check email to receive exclusive analysis on the week in health Get our free Health Check email Get our free Health Check email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. In the UK at least a quarter of adults have high blood pressure but this could increase to nearly 50 per cent if the changes are approved. Professor Richard McManus, who sits on the NICE board considering the guideline, has claimed the evidence of benefits to people at low or intermediate risk of heart problems is "lacking" “The change in definition will label individuals with a ‘condition’ that they did not previously have,” said Professor McManus, from Oxford University’s Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, in an article for Nature Reviews Cardiology. “Therefore, expanding treatment recommendations might have little effect without paying attention to other aspects, such as promoting medication adherence and lifestyle changes to lower blood pressure.” One study found that more than one third of patients refuse medication even when told it would reduce their risk of heart disease by five per cent over five years. She said: “One concern GPs already have is over diagnosis — where we are prescribing medications when the benefits to the individual patient may be very limited.” High blood pressure is one of the most important risk factors worldwide for disability and death and increases the likelihood of strokes and heart attacks.