Prevalence and Risk Correlates of Hypertension among Adults in Rural Field Practice Area of Tertiary Care Medical College at South India.

ABSTRACT

Background: In India, lifestyle diseases were considered in the urban setting; so the medical fraternity has concentrated more on the urban people. With epidemiological transition, a dramatic reduction in physical exercise has been observed in the rural areas with an increase in the stresses of life. According to World Health Report 2002, cardiovascular diseases will be the largest cause of death and disability by 2020 in India; the contributing factors are increasing hypertension, dyslipidemia, diabetes, overweight or obesity, physical inactivity, and using tobacco. Our study aims to determine prevalence of hypertension in an adult rural community and to identify the risk factors of Hypertension among adults in Rural Field Practice Area Singanodi of Navodaya Medical College, Raichur, Karnataka. Methods: The present study is a cross sectional study, carried out in village Singanodi, which is designated as rural field practice area of Community Medicine Department, Navodaya Medical College. It has population coverage of 14,200.The study population include all subjects who were aged 30 years and above. The present study was a population based study. Results: Out of total population, 240 (37.3%) were in age group of 30-39 years, 222 (34.5%) were in age group of 40-49 years. Males and females were 386 (60.03%) and 257 (39.97%) respectively. Our study revealed that hypertension was significantly associated with body mass index, maximum in obese patients when compared to normal and underweight (p<0.0001) There is significant association between smoking and hypertension 77 (29.9%). (p<0.015) There is significant association with physical activity; that is sedentary people were more prone for getting hypertension when compared to heavy worker. However, salt intake > 6 grams/day and family history of hypertension were found to be significantly associated. (p=0.009; p=0.003 respectively) The prevalence of hypertension among subjects on vegetarian diet vs. mixed diet was 23.9% vs. 22.2%, respectively but the difference was not statistically significant. (p= 0.09) Conclusion: From our study we conclude that there is a high prevalence of hypertension even in rural area and advocate to flourish awareness regarding modifiable risk factors of hypertension among the people.