A CHARITY is to offer free blood pressure checks after saying that nearly 60,000 people across the Bradford district are unaware they may be at risk.

Blood Pressure UK is hosting the ‘Know Your Numbers’ campaign from September 18 to 24, billed as the UK’s biggest free blood pressure testing event.

The charity said the campaign comes with a warning that poor diet and excess salt intake is leading to an increase in the number of people aged in their 30s to 50s developing high blood pressure, with one in three people in the UK now living with the condition.

It states that as a consequence, the proportion of strokes suffered by working age people has increased, despite an overall drop in the number of strokes.

A Blood Pressure UK spokesman said: “High blood pressure causes 60 per cent of all strokes. In Bradford, 127,600 people have high blood pressure yet 57,200, or 45 per cent, are unaware they have it as they have never been tested.

“Managing high blood pressure will have a massive impact on reducing strokes.”

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the main cause of death across the Bradford, with more than 700 recorded each year.

For the under-75s, the number of people dying from CVD is significantly higher than the national average, with the Bradford City Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) area having the worst outcomes in the country, and Bradford Districts CCG the seventh worst.

By 2020, the Districts CCG is aiming – via its Bradford’s Healthy Hearts campaign – to reduce the number of people who die from CVD by a minimum of 10 per cent, to include 150 strokes and 340 heart attacks.

Associate professor Jamie Waterall, lead for CVD prevention at Public Health England, said: “High blood pressure is the third biggest cause of early death and ill health in England. This is why it’s so important to know our numbers, in the same way we would know our weight or height. It is arguably one of the most important numbers we should know as adults.”

Professor Graham MacGregor, chairman of Blood Pressure UK, added: “By lowering the population’s blood pressure even a small amount, we could save the NHS more than £1billion every year. Having your blood pressure checked is the most important step that you can take to reduce your risk of stroke, heart attack or heart failure.”

The nearest ‘pressure station’ to Bradford, where the free tests will take place, is located at Winer Chemist in Bond Street, Birstall, which is offering the checks from September 18 to 23.