PREVALENCE OF HYPERTENSION AMONG WOMEN IN A SELECTED SUBURBAN AREA AT SOUTH INDIA: ACROSS SECTIONAL SURVEY

Mrs. Elizabeth A J; Dr. Aruna S; Dr. Mercy P J

Volume : IX, Issue : VI, June - 2020

PREVALENCE OF HYPERTENSION AMONG WOMEN IN A SELECTED SUBURBAN AREA AT SOUTH INDIA: ACROSS SECTIONAL SURVEY

Mrs. Elizabeth A J, Dr. Aruna S, Dr. Mercy P J

Abstract :

Background: Hypertension is one of the major public health problems in the world. Many people are unaware about their hypertension especially in sub urban and rural areas .Very few studies have been done in this area. Hypertension is asymptomatic until it become severe and target organ disease has occurred. Objective: The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of hypertension among women in a sub urban area of Kerala. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted from March 2019 – June 2019 in the self help goups of Thripunithura Municipaity of Ernakulam District in Kerala. 700 women aged 25years or more, were selected by convenient sampling. Socio personal information was collected using structured Performa and anthropometric measurements were recorded using standard guidelines. Results: Among the 700 women in this study, the prevalence of HTN was 46.71% (327), among them 101 (30.88%) were previously diagnosed with HTN while 226(69.11%) were new cases detected in this study. The mean systolic BP was134.2mmHg with SD of 18.6 and diastolic BP was 84.9mm of Hg with SD of 9.23. The mean weight was 56.56 kg � 10.59 and waist circumference was 90.03cm � 11.28. A positive correlation was found between Blood pressure and selected demographic variables like age, monthly income, general obesity and central obesity, where as a negative correlation was observed with occupation and education. Conclusions: In this study, the prevalence of hypertension was 48.77%. But it was alarming that the percentage of Pre-hypertension was increased to nearly half (46.71%) of the study population.