ABSTRACT
Background: Raised blood pressure (hypertension) caused an estimated 9.4 million deaths in 2010. 22% of adults aged 18 years and over around the world had raised blood pressure in 2014 In India prevalence of Hypertension is 22.4% (13.5% in Haryana, district Faridabad) according to National Family Health Survey 2015-2016. A number of studies have estimated the prevalence of hypertension in general population in our country but data regarding the prevalence of hypertension in industrial workers has not been documented in the recent past. The objectives of the study were to calculate the prevalence of hypertension and its associated risk factors in employee’s state insurance (ESI) beneficiaries in four districts in Haryana.Methods: Cross-sectional study was done on 365 ESI beneficiaries working in industries in four districts of Haryana. Predesigned structured self-administered questionnaire was used for interview. Blood pressure measurement and all the anthropometric measurements were done by the following standardized technique.Results: The overall prevalence of hypertension was found to be 17.26%. The severity of hypertension increased significantly with age (p=0.006). Overweight and obese participants had higher proportion of hypertensive, however, history of shift duty, drug abuse, tobacco and alcohol intake did not show a significant trend of severity of HTN.Conclusions: From the results of the present study, it can be concluded that there are a large number of undiagnosed cases of hypertension amongst employee’s state insurance corporation (ESIC) beneficiaries. It is, therefore recommended that health check-up and awareness camps should be conducted on regular basis for early detection and timely treatment of hypertension.
ABSTRACT
Background: The increase in life expectancy has resulted in changes in age composition of India and tripling of geriatric population in last 50 years. To provide adequate and comprehensive care to elderly, understanding their health problems and health seeking behavior is imperative. Hence, this study aimed to assess the morbidity pattern and health-seeking behavior and factors affecting them among geriatric population of a rural area of district Faridabad.Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out among 300 elderly above 60 years of age in village Pali of Faridabad district for a period of 3 months. The list of elderly was obtained from health workers’ records and they were interviewed regarding socio-demographic factors, morbidity status and health seeking behaviour using a predesigned and pretested structured questionnaire.Results: Out of 300 subjects, 56% were females and 63% were in age group of 60-69 years. Overall 93.3% subjects had one or more morbidities with musculoskeletal disorders being most common (57.3%) followed by visual impairment and cataract (54.0%) and hypertension (49.0%). Morbidities were significantly higher among females (p= 0.006), divorced/separated (p=0.014) and illiterate elderly (p=0.026). 77.7% elderly preferred allopathic system of medicine with private facilities preferred by 40%.Conclusions: Morbidity load among elderly was very high and health seeking behaviour was poor. So, strong efforts are needed to provide them with comprehensive and specialised care so that they contribute to their maximum potential to our society. Primary healthcare strategies targeting elderly needs to be strengthened and area specific strategies need to be formulated.