A Study of Blood Pressure and Blood Glucose among Participants Attending a Health Fair in Dominica

With an estimate of over 1 billion hypertensive individuals and approximately 366 million diabetic individuals, blood pressure and blood glucose tests have belonged to the group of one of the most examined parameters. Studies have also shown the death of 7.1 million individuals from high blood pressure globally. Incidence of high blood pressure and high blood glucose has been recorded in the Caribbean islands. Hence, this study is targeted towards identifying the distribution of blood pressure and blood glucose among Caribbean locals during a health fair. A total of 260 Dominicans participated during the health fair. Among which 103 (39.62%), 1 (0.38%), 73 (28.08%), 56 (21.54%) and 24 (9.23%) were normotensive, hypotensive, pre-hypertensive, stage 1 hypertensive and stage 2 hypertensive respectively. Blood glucose test showed 210 (80.77%), 3 (1.15%), 38 (14.62%) and 8 (3.08%) readings of normal, hypoglycemic, impaired and diabetic respectively. This study stresses on the need for increased care for elderly individuals among the Caribbean population. The need for proper awareness on healthy living has also been emphasized in the study.