PRESS ASSOCIATION -- High blood pressure is linked to an increased risk of developing cancer, the largest study on the issue has shown.

People with raised blood pressure also have a higher chance of dying from the disease, according to the research on almost 600,000 people.

The study, led by Dr Mieke Van Hemelrijck, a research associate in the cancer epidemiology group at King's College London, found that higher than normal blood pressure is linked with a 10% to 20% increased risk of developing cancer in men, and a higher risk of dying from the disease in both sexes.

She is presenting the findings at the European Multidisciplinary Cancer Congress in Stockholm.

Previous, smaller studies have produced conflicting results on a link between blood pressure and cancer. One study found the risk appeared to be higher for women than men.

There were seven groups of participants in Norway, Austria and Sweden, totalling 289,454 men and 288,345 women.

The average age at the start of the study was 44 and people were followed for 12 years. During that time, 22,184 men and 14,744 women were diagnosed with cancer and 8,724 men and 4,525 women died from the disease.

The overall risk of developing any cancer increased by 29% between men with the lowest blood pressure in the study and those with the highest.

In women, increased blood pressure was not statistically linked with an overall increased risk of developing any cancer, but was linked with a higher incidence of cancers of the liver, pancreas, cervix, womb and melanoma skin cancer.

Dr Van Hemelrijck said: "Although the relative and absolute risk estimates were rather modest, these results are important from a public health perspective since a large proportion of the population in many western countries suffers from hypertension."