A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY TO ESTIMATE THE PREVALENCE OF HYPERTENSION IN URBAN FIELD PRACTICE AREA OF MEDICAL COLLEGE IN METROPOLITAN CITY OF INDIA

Objectives: The objectives of the study were to estimate the prevalence of hypertension in people above 35 years and to study the sociodemographic profile of the study subjects. Methods: The study was a cross-sectional study conducted in urban field practice area of medical college. Five chawls were selected by simple random sampling out of 42 chawls. Males and females above 35 years of age living in study area formed a sample frame. Sample size was calculated and it was 667. As per the protocol, informed written consent and demographic details with clinical data were obtained from the patients. Results: A total of 667 participants were included from five chawls. Maximum number of participants, that is, 37%; were from the age group of 35 to 44, consisting of 41% males and 59% females. Around 67% of study respondents belonged to the age group of 35–54 years. Around 3/4th of study respondents had studied up to primary school and secondary and high school. Out of 263 males, 37%, that is, 98 respondents were hypertensive, and out of 404 females, 152, that is, 38% were hypertensive. Hence, the total prevalence of hypertension in this study was 37.5%. Conclusion: Hypertension is the new era pandemic which is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the world and is ranked third as a cause of disability-adjusted life years. To control hypertension, it is imperative to identify and modify its risk factors