Background: Because relatively little has been known about the actual prevalence of hypertension in India, particularly for its rural population, we investigated the prevalence of arterial hypertension in a rural Indian population.
Methods: The Central India Eye and Medical Study is a population-based study in a rural Central Indian region. It included 4,711 subjects (ages 30+ years) undergoing an ophthalmic and medical examination. Hypertension was defined as systolic blood pressure > or =140 mm Hg and/or diastolic blood pressure > or =90 mm Hg, and/or self-reported current treatment for hypertension.
Results: Arterial hypertension was found in 1,041 (22.1%) subjects. Its prevalence was associated with higher age (P < 0.001), higher body mass index (P < 0.001), body height (P = 0.001), higher blood hemoglobin levels (P < 0.001), and elevated blood urea concentration (P = 0.008). It was not significantly associated with gender, level of education, family income, kind of daily physical activities, type of diet, and serum concentrations of cholesterol and creatinine. Among the hypertensive study participants (n = 1,041), 208 (20.0%) subjects were aware of their disease. A current antihypertensive treatment was reported by 84 subjects of the 1,041 arterial hypertensive subjects (8.1 +/- 0.9%). Out of the treated subjects, 24 (29%) had abnormally high diastolic blood pressure measurements and 44 (52%) participants had abnormally high systolic blood pressure measurements.
Conclusions: In a rural Central Indian population of ages 30+ years, the prevalence of arterial hypertension was 22.1 +/- 0.6% with an awareness rate of 20% and a treatment rate of 8%. The low awareness and treatment rate may demand increasing public health efforts.