{"id":52237,"date":"2025-09-09T05:13:07","date_gmt":"2025-09-09T05:13:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/52237\/"},"modified":"2025-09-09T05:13:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-09T05:13:07","slug":"more-than-third-of-older-adults-have-undiagnosed-high-blood-pressure-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/52237\/","title":{"rendered":"More than third of older adults have undiagnosed high blood pressure \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

More than a third of older adults have undiagnosed high blood pressure<\/a>, while almost half have undiagnosed high cholesterol, increasing their risk of stroke<\/a> and dementia<\/a>, a new study has found.<\/p>\n

According to the researchers, unless this \u201csignificant\u201d unmet need is addressed, the burden on the health system will become so acute that it will not be able to cope with demand.<\/p>\n

The latest data from the Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (Tilda) was published on Tuesday. It found \u201cgroundbreaking\u201d findings in relation to growing health concerns amid Ireland\u2019s ageing population.<\/p>\n

Drawing on 14 years of longitudinal data from more than 8,000 adults aged 50 and older, the new report highlights widespread unmet needs in key areas such as cardiovascular disease prevention, falls and fracture care, osteoporosis treatment, chronic pain and mental health. <\/p>\n

According to the research, some 36 per cent of older adults had undiagnosed hypertension (high blood pressure), while a further 50 per cent were on insufficient treatment for the condition. Furthermore, some 45 per cent had undiagnosed high cholesterol.<\/p>\n

A third of older adults reported chronic pain, yet two-thirds of those with moderate to severe symptoms received no pain-relieving medication.<\/p>\n

A total of 12 per cent of older adults had \u201cclinically significant depressive symptoms\u201d. However, fewer than half of these adults received appropriate treatment and more than 45 per cent of them had not reported their symptoms to any healthcare provider.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0\u2018I want to be as strong as I can be\u2019: Irish people in their 60s and 70s on embracing the gymOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

The research also highlighted the increasing burden falls are placing on the country\u2019s health system, particularly in acute hospitals.<\/p>\n

One in 10 adults aged 50 years and older in Ireland reported experiencing a fall in the past 12 months that was serious enough to require medical attention, the research found.<\/p>\n

The likelihood of such falls increased with age: 7 per cent among those aged 50\u201364 years; 9 per cent among those aged 65 to 74 years; and 13 per cent among those aged 75 years and older. Additionally, one in 20 attended an emergency department due to a fall in the previous year.<\/p>\n

\u201cFalls and fracture prevention should therefore be a public health priority,\u201d the report said.<\/p>\n

Prof Rose Anne Kenny, principal investigator of Tilda, said there are real-life consequences to not meeting the needs of these people before it reaches crisis point.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the context of blood pressure, people need to think what they want their last 10 years to look like. When we explore that with people, there are two things that keep coming up: they want to be moving and they want memory,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are common things \u2013 high blood pressure and high cholesterol \u2013 are risk factors for stroke, for vascular dementia and Alzheimer\u2019s disease.\u201d<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Why do overweight people have better survival rates from some cancers and heart problems?Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Prof Kenny said if the situation does not change, the prevalence of these illnesses will grow exponentially, putting unsustainable pressure on our health system.<\/p>\n

\u201cOver the next 15 years, we\u2019re going to increase the number of people over the age of 60 by 60 per cent. That means it\u2019s happening now. It\u2019s a great thing that people are living longer, but there is a big gap between life expectancy and healthy lifespan; it\u2019s nearly 13 years. We\u2019re living longer with ill health,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

She called for a \u201ccomplete relook\u201d at screening for these conditions, adding that they are \u201cchallenges we can address with the right health and social care systems in place\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"More than a third of older adults have undiagnosed high blood pressure, while almost half have undiagnosed high…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":52238,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[78],"tags":[868,18,135,7005,19,17,6425],"class_list":{"0":"post-52237","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-dementia","9":"tag-eire","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-hospitals","12":"tag-ie","13":"tag-ireland","14":"tag-stroke"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52237"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52237\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}