Prevalence and socio-demographic factors of hypertension among people of age 20 years and above in an urban slum area of Maharashtra

Abstract

Background: In Urban slum areas, people having problems like poverty, un-employement, illiteracy and addiction. These all are having influence on Blood Pressure level. The objective was to estimate prevalence of hypertension among people of age 20 years and above and to study socio-demographic factors associated with hypertension. Methods: A community based cross sectional study was carried out among the adults residing in the urban slum area, catered by U.H.C. of the Department of Community Medicine. The sample size was 1122 adults in the age group of 20 years and above. By using systematic random sampling method, every 5th household was selected and data was collected by house to house visits, clinical examination and interview of study population with a pre-designed pre-tested proforma. Chi-square test was used to analyze data. Results: The overall prevalence of hypertension was found to be 15.15 %. Various factors associated with hypertension were age, religion, occupation, higher socioeconomic class, type of family, marital status, type of diet, smoking and alcohol intake. Conclusions: Hypertension is not only problem in affluent society but also in slum area.