Annual hypertension screening vital to hit 70% BP control target, say leading specialists
All adults visiting general practice should have their blood pressure measured at least once a year regardless of cardiovascular risk factors, according to the National Hypertension Taskforce.
The recommendation is a key plank of its road map, published in the Medical Journal of Australia, to boost current population blood pressure control rates from 32% to at least 70% by 2030.
Professor Markus Schlaich, a renal physician and co-chair of the task force, told AusDoc that systematic screening in general practice was a vital first step to achieving this target.
“We know that roughly half of people in the community who have elevated blood pressure, defined as office or clinic blood pressure above 140/90mmHg, are actually undiagnosed,” said Professor Schlaich, from the University of WA.
