Blood Pressure day hits new high - 17 May 2012

An estimated 17,000 people had a free blood pressure check last Saturday during the Stroke Foundation’s fourth annual Blood Pressure Awareness campaign. This is the highest number since the campaign began. Checks were carried out at 150 New World and PAK’n’SAVE supermarkets and a few other venues across New Zealand.

Thousands more people will have received information about blood pressure and the importance of having regular checks to guard against the risk of stroke and heart attack. ‘Every year this campaign gets bigger and better,’ said Stroke Foundation CEO Mark Vivian. ‘All the reports we have received indicate how positively the public view the opportunity for a free check and the Stroke Foundation would like to thank our partners Foodstuffs, St John and Rotary for making it all possible.’

Data is coming in from the sites and will be analysed, with the results published in the next few weeks. Previous years’ data has shown that raised blood pressure is more common in the population than received wisdom suggests (40% versus 20-25%).