Publication:

Blood pressure trait in rural Bengal- impact of hard labour, poor economic condition and poor diet

Background The aim of the present study was to observe the blood pressure trait of male population of rural Bengal, India as a part of community work. Physical characteristics and blood pressure of 699 adult male from a rural area of West Bengal, India were studied. Participants were from poor socioeconomic status, who do hard different manual works on the field for earning to feed their families for survival.

Methods Blood pressure was measured with manual sphygmomanometer in the morning. Physical characteristics were measured for predicting nutritional status in terms of BMI.

Results Nutritional status of 85% male villagers was either underweight or normal. Only 4.6 % were obese. Most of villagers possessed either optimal or normal blood pressure. Very few had hypertension. More than 99% of male villagers were without hypertension. Calorie intake of the villager were nominal due to poverty but had to work hard for economic survival. Nominal intake of calories along with hard labour might be the reason behind optimal or normal blood pressure.

Conclusions It could be concluded that survival efforts of the rural people make them less hypertensive.