Prevalence, Awareness, Treatment, and Control of Hypertension in Rural Areas of Davanagere

OBJECTIVE: To study the prevalence, awareness, treatment, and control of hypertension in the rural areas of Davanagere. TYPE OF STUDY: Cross-sectional community-based study. SETTING: Villages belonging to six sectors of the Davanagere Taluk. MATERIALS AND METHODS: General population above 18 years. METHODOLOGY: A community-based sample was chosen by a multistage sampling technique. Subjects were screened for hypertension by a house-to-house survey. Subjects with systolic blood pressure more than 140 and diastolic blood pressure more than 90 mm of Hg, on hypertensive treatment, and history of hypertension were classified as hypertensives. The data thus obtained was compiled and analyzed. RESULTS: The prevalence rate of hypertension in the study population was 18.3% (95% CI, 16.7-19.9%). Prevalence of hypertension was more in males 19.1% (95% CI, 16.7-21.5%) than in females 17.5% (95% CI, 14.9-20.1%); 11.6%, 5.6%, and 1.2% of the total subjects had Grade I, Grade II, and Grade III, respectively. Only 33.8% of them were aware of their hypertensive status. Hypertensives of 32.1% were on treatment, and 12.5% adequately controlled their BP. About 6.9% of the total hypertensives had severe hypertension. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: Proportions, One way Analysis of Variance, Chi-square test.