Vol. 6, Issue 12 (2017)

Author(s):
Anirban Goswami, Salma Sultana and Shaista Urooj

Abstract:
The aim of this study was to assess the socio-demographic factors in prevalence of hypertension and its risk factors, among patients attended in OPD at Regional Research Institute of Unani Medicine, New Delhi, India.. In this context study subjects were either having the disease hypertension or having symptoms related to the same. Habit of smoking, tobacco chewing, alcohol intake, high BMI and laziness is a social problem increasing day by day and has a clear association with the problem of hypertension. More over people having hypertension generally suffer from the problem of anxiety, vertigo, palpitation, headache, laziness, breathlessness and vise versa. Hence this is an understood fact that if some people suffer from these above mentioned symptoms may have a chance to reach to the problem of hypertension or people having hypertension may suffer from these symptoms. More over age, gender and family history may be a contributing factor in developing a disease like hypertension. Hence in this study it is tried to show the risk of hypertension in view of socio-demographic factors. The overall mean±sem age of study hypertension patients was 57.38 ± 1.32 years (59.88 ± 2.47 years in men and 52.18 ± 2.47 years in women) and non- hypertension was patients was 40.49 ± 1.38 years (42.65 ± 1.88 years in men and 37.83 ± 2.02 years in women). Median-unbiased estimation was used to assess the odds ratio to identify association of hypertension with socio-demographic factors and its risk factors. In this study, Age, Gender, habit of chewing tobacco, alcohol intake, BMI, anxiety, vertigo, palpitation, headache, laziness, breathlessness and family history of hypertension was found to be significantly associated with hypertension. Significant association was not found with Income Group, Dietary Habits, Residence and Smoking Status. Hence it is clear that socio-demographic factors related to hypertension and its risk are subject to having a cause and effect relationship. This underscores the need for preventive efforts to changes in lifestyle modifications which may lower the chance of a person to developed hypertension.