Does treating high blood pressure do any good?

This blog post is not new - it was published on 2nd April 2012 - but I remember reading it for the first time and being really quite startled by it. It is referenced.

The author discusses lowering moderately raised blood pressure and what effects this has on mortality. He has no quibble with treating very high blood pressure.

Title : Does treating high blood pressure do any good?

Author : Dr Malcolm Kendrick

Link : https://drmalcolmkendrick.org/2012/04/02/does-treating-high-blood-pressure-do-any-good/

 

I have only recently found out at a routine check-up at the surgery, that I have very high blood pressure and have just had to start on medication. No previous history, nothing in the family.
But as with many things, I get the impression that finding out the cause is not a major concern. Even getting any tests done seems to be out of the norm.

 

Yep. Not interested at all.

 

Interesting point re a mindset that is applicable to so much

who knows whether if the approach had been to see it as a symptom and be monitoring all blood pressure then having (what nhs seems to infer to the world is some sort of wonder database of peoples illnesses) actual monitoring of what people end up with short, mid, long term might have flagged up just by serendipity of the few who got investigated and illnesses or other causes eventually showing up.

could it be that these things could then have been used to inform and predict better?

and is the research on this behavioural stuff - now we know what we do - actually that good (or have people just not updated with the literature) and do such changes make such an impact in everything/everyone? Because if not then the worry is that same problem where a belief it must just be that one thing in too many ie not believing when someone says their lifestyle isn’t the cause means things are glossed over and because it isn’t in the industry’s interests no one is checking that was wrong and seeking to make sure that should that assumption be proven wrong it is being reported back to those who made those incorrect assumptions so they can get the % right in their heuristics etc.

 

Wow, that's a rather mind-blowing article. Why is this not public knowledge? (Rhetorical question)

I love the Winston Churchill quote: "Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing ever happened.’

 

and yet according to NICE
Secondary causes of hypertension | Background information | Hypertension | CKS | NICE

 

That there is a list of well known secondary causes of hypertension that all medical students learn.

In my day we screened for those things that were reasonably practical - full physical examination, renal chemistry, chest X ray, etc etc.. Not sure what the guidelines are these days.

 

From the link that @Sly Saint gave above listing secondary causes of hypertension :