A community based cross-sectional study was carried out to assess the prevalence of hypertension and associated risk factors like salt intake, 24-h urinary sodium excretion and body mass index (BMI) among tribal population of Mandla District, Central India. A total of 3090 individuals, from 1258 house hold drawn from 33 sampled villages and 12 urban wards were studied for blood pressure measurements and clinical examination, while 414 urine samples were collected for estimation of 24-h sodium excretion. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression were used to assess the associations of BMI, urinary sodium output and other risk factors with hypertension. Across the sample, 28.2% of males and 23.6% of females had either stage-I or stage-II hypertension. More than 8% of subjects <30 years were hypertensive. The prevalence of hypertension shows a strong association with the increase in BMI and tribals with BMI > 25 were considerably more to have high blood pressure. Salt intake is directly related to the hypertension. The prevalence of hypertension was significantly greater among those whose salt intake was more than 10 g per day. A positive association between urine sodium excretion and blood pressure was observed. The results of the present study show that the tribal population is also affected by the life style diseases at par with the non-tribal population.

Objective: To study the feasibility of iron and folic acid (IFA) supplementation among tribal adolescent girls and identify factors associated with high compliance. Design: Intervention study with IFA supplementation among tribal adolescent girls of Bijadandi block, Mandla district, Madhya Pradesh, India. Girls (n 274) from twelve villages randomly selected out of 100 potential villages received daily tablets containing iron (III) hydroxide polymaltose complex equivalent to 100 mg of elemental Fe and 350 mg of folic acid (commercially available as Feritas tablets, marketed by Intas Pharmaceutical Ltd, India). IFA was given for 100 d and supervised by school teachers and anganwadi workers. Compliance was measured using cards and interviews. Setting: Community-based iron supplementation programme. Subjects: Tribal adolescent girls aged 12-19 years. Results: In total 233 girls completed the study. Prevalence of anaemia was reduced from 94 % at baseline to 69 % after the intervention. Compliance rate (.80 tablets) was 89 %. Minor side-effects were reported by three girls, yet they consumed .80 tablets. Factors associated with compliance included fasting during the local festival (x 2 5 72?74, df 3; P , 0?0001) and counselling (x 2 5 72?74, df 3; P , 0?0001). Other qualitative factors like social mobilization, timely supply of tablets, quality of tablets (blister pack) and availability of teachers and anganwadi workers were also associated with the compliance and feasibility. Conclusions: High compliance indicates that IFA supplementation with tablets is feasible among the tribal adolescent girls of Bijadandi block, Mandla district.

No abstract