Prevalence of hypertension and sociodemographic factors within the Scheduled Caste community of the District Nadia, West Bengal, India.

Objective: The aim of this cross-sectional, community-based survey was to investigate the prevalence of hypertension, isolated systolic hypertension (ISH), isolated diastolic hypertension (IDH) and prehypertension according to sociodemographic features among the members of the households of the Scheduled Caste community of three selected villages (Chowgachha, Bagula and Chakdaha) of the District Nadia, West Bengal, India, in individuals aged 20-70 years.

Methods: A door-to-door survey was conducted by the author (MB). Detailed information was collected from participants who were interviewed using a systematic random sampling method and a pretested structured questionnaire. Standard instruments were used to obtain data on weight, height and blood pressure. Data were analysed using the z-test and chi-square test.

Results: Prevalence of prehypertension, hypertension, ISH and IDH in the study population was 19.28%, 17.93%, 8.07% and 6.72%, respectively. There was a significant development of hypertension with increasing age (p<0.001). Males (19.26%) showed a higher hypertensive rate than females (16.66%); however, this was not significant. In the three increasing body mass index (BMI) groups (<19.9, 20-24.9 and ≥25 kg/m(2)), the percentages of patients with hypertension were 19.27%, 23.23% and 29.62%, respectively. Hypertension was higher in the waist hip ratio (WHR) group of 0.90-0.99 (hypertension=23.12%) than the WHR group of 0.80-0.89 (hypertension=7.89%). BMI and WHR were significantly higher (p<0.001) in the hypertensive group compared with the non-hypertensive group. The percentage of patients with hypertension in three successive salt intake groups (3-6.9, 7-10.9 and >11 g/day) were 11.92%, 22.22% and 27.27%, respectively.

Conclusions: The results of this investigation clearly indicate that there was a significant (p<0.001) role of dietary salt in the development of hypertension.