Prevalence of Hypertension and Determination of Its Risk Factors in Rural Delhi

Abstract

Introduction. Hypertension is an important public health challenge in both economically developing and developed countries. It is one of the risk factors for cardiovascular mortality. Data is available on hypertension in urban population but few studies are reported in rural areas. Materials and Methods. It was a community based cross-sectional study conducted in two rural areas in Delhi among 1005 subjects selected using systematic random sampling method. WHO STEPS approach was used to collect data. Blood pressure, body mass index, and blood sugar were measured. Data analysis was done using SPSS version 16. Odds of hypertension among subjects with risk factors were calculated. p value less than 0.05 was considered significant. Results. The prevalence of hypertension was 14.1% among study subjects. Hypertension was significantly higher in individuals more than 35 years than those less than 35 years. Hypertension was significantly higher in those who take alcohol and in subjects with raised total cholesterol level but in multivariate analysis only age, education, and cholesterol levels were independently associated with hypertension. Conclusion. There is significant burden of hypertension in rural areas in Delhi. Age, education, and cholesterol levels were independent risk factors of hypertension.

A cross-sectional study on prevalence of hypertension and risk factors associated with hypertension in a rural area of North Kerala

“…[5,12,13] but it was very much low for males compared to study done by Kishore et al [9] The proportion of HTN was more among the 60-69 years age group which was slightly higher compared to studies done by Yuvaraj et al and Kumar et al [13,14] and was similar to other studies. [5,12] However, in our study, the proportion of hypertensives among 30-39 years age group which was slightly higher compared to other studies and it is alarming since younger age group people are developing HTN which is a matter of concern for public health.…”

“…Like in our study, male gender was at risk for HTN in study done by Kishore et al, [9] but gender was not associated in some studies conducted in other rural parts of India. [5,6] Age more than 45 years was associated with risk of HTN in our study which was similar to other studies.…”

“…[5,12,13] A few studies conducted in rural areas of Jaipur by Kumar et al in Central India by Bhadoria et al in rural Delhi by Kishore et al and in Maharashtra by Todkar et al found a prevalence of HTN as 13.17%, 14.8%, 14.1% and 7.24%, respectively, which were very much lower compared to our study. [6,7,9,14] This increase in the prevalence of HTN was may be due to rural population changing their traditional lifestyle to urban lifestyle.…”

“…[5,12] However, in our study, the proportion of hypertensives among 30-39 years age group which was slightly higher compared to other studies and it is alarming since younger age group people are developing HTN which is a matter of concern for public health. [5,7,9,[12][13][14] The alarming rise of the prevalence of HTN among the younger adults is of great concern for public health.…”

“…[4] The prevalence of HTN among the rural population is increasing at an alarming rate due to change in dietary patterns and lifestyle. According to few studies conducted in rural and urban parts of India, risk factors associated with HTN were smoking, overweight, physical inactivity, alcohol consumption, diabetes, and family history [5][6][7][8][9] Due to inadequate access to health-care facilities at rural areas, the early screening and treatment of HTN are not done regularly, so we conducted this study with an objective to determine the prevalence of HTN and risk factors associated with it in a rural community of North Kerala.…”