- An additional 2.5 million free tests will be available in the community each year
The NHS is going to offer men blood pressure checks at the hairdresser, as new research shows they are twice as likely to have a heart attack as women.
Health chiefs have revealed that an additional 2.5 million free tests will be available in the community each year as part of an effort to target men who are reluctant to see a doctor.
They estimate that it can help prevent more than 1,350 heart attacks and strokes each year.
High blood pressure is the third biggest risk factor for heart attack or stroke, after smoking and a poor diet.
Yet many people remain unaware they have it because there are often no obvious symptoms.
Health chiefs have revealed that 2.5 million additional free tests will be available in the community each year as part of an effort to target men who are reluctant to see a doctor (Stock Image)
High blood pressure is the third biggest risk factor for heart attack or stroke, after smoking and a poor diet ( Stock Image )
Doctors want more lifesaving checks offered at hairdressers, churches, mosques and community centers to catch cases early. It’s because research presented at the European Society of Cardiology Congress in Amsterdam shows that the relative risk of a heart attack for British men is twice as high as for women.
The study, which followed 20,000 people over the age of 40 between 1993 and 2018, also found that men were twice as likely to develop peripheral artery disease and had a 50 percent higher risk of heart failure and atrial fibrillation.
Led by the University of Aberdeen, the report said men have a 42 percent higher risk of dying from such causes.
It also found that men had a greater risk of heart attack younger than women, usually around age 50, compared to those aged 52-60. The study concluded: ‘Men had a higher lifetime risk of cardiovascular disease, but these sex differences were most pronounced in myocardial infarction and peripheral vascular disease, followed by atrial fibrillation, heart failure and cardiovascular death.’
Lead researcher Dr Tiberiu Pana said: ‘Men should start looking early for risk factors such as obesity, lack of exercise, smoking and alcohol consumption, and contact their GP to address these issues.’
Each year there are 100,000 hospital admissions for a heart attack – one every five minutes – with the NHS doubling the number of blood pressure checks it offers to people over 40 in the past year.
Dr. David Crichton, chief medical officer at NHS South Yorkshire, said expanding the program to locations such as barbershops would “get in touch with people whose blood pressure is not normally monitored.”
A study suggests that targeted screening of patients with type 2 diabetes can more than double the diagnosis of heart disease.
A team from the University Medical Center Utrecht has developed a three-step process: a questionnaire, physical examination and referral to a cardiologist where necessary.
It found that the strategy “more than doubled the number of diagnoses of heart failure, atrial fibrillation and coronary artery disease in patients at risk.”