Prevalence and socioeconomic determinants of prehypertension and hypertension in Aligarh

Abstract

Introduction: High blood pressure is the commonest risk factor for cardiovascular disease and is a major contributor to avoidable death and disease in India. The present study was carried out with an objective to study the prevalence of hypertension and prehypertension and sociodemographic correlates in rural and urban areas. Materials and Methods: The present community based cross sectional study was conducted in the field practice areas of the Urban Health Training Centre (UHTC) and Rural Health Training Centre (RHTC), Department of Community Medicine, Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India. Systemic random sampling to include subjects was used. Six hundred and forty subjects were chosen for the study. The study was carried out for one year. Data were analyzed with SPSS version 13. Results: The overall prevalence of hypertension and prehypertension in our study was 19.7% and 53.7% respectively. The prevalence of high blood pressure showed a significantly increasing trend with increasing age in both males and females. Significant association of hypertension with sociodemographic variables such as occupation, income, locality and social class was noted. Conclusion: High prevalence of prehypertension and hypertension calls for urgent preventive and treatment measures which are cost effective for early diagnosis and improve the availability of basic diagnostics at primary health care level. Keywords: Hypertension, Pre-hypertension, Prevalence, Socio-demographic factors.