Publication:

Prevalence of hypertension and selected factors associated to hypertension in a rural area of South Karnataka: a cross sectional study

Background Hypertension is one of the major risk factors for CVDs and its complications which account for 9.4 million deaths worldwide every year. Hypertension itself responsible for about 45% and 51% deaths due to heart disease and stroke respectively. It is a major public health problem in India both in urban and rural areas and is increasing at an alarming rate in rural population now days. Because of lack of access to health care facilities at rural areas, the early screening and treatment of hypertension is not done regularly, so we conducted this study. The objective of the study was to determine the prevalence and associated factors of hypertension in a rural community of South Karnataka.

Methods A community based cross sectional study was conducted at rural field practice area of a private medical college in Bengaluru. Sample size was 380 and convenient sampling method used. Data was collected by visiting homes and blood pressure measured with mercury sphygmomanometer. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse the data.

Results Among 380 participants, 58.4% and 41.6% were males and females respectively. The overall prevalence of hypertension among them was 22.6%, newly diagnosed cases were 7.1% and the proportion of hypertension was more among the age group of 50-59 years (40.7%).

Conclusions Our study shows that hypertension has creeped into the rural areas also and creating a huge health problem for the community. Newly diagnosed cases are also high which shows that most of the people are not aware of their blood pressure and importance of regular monitoring of blood pressure. Since screening helps in early detection, so strengthening of health facilities and creation of awareness at rural levels will reduce the morbidity and mortality due to hypertension and its complications.