EXISTENCE OF RULE OF HALVES IN HYPERTENSION: AN EXPLORATORY ANALYSIS IN AN INDIAN VILLAGE

INTRODUCTION: India is a country in transition, the population is graying and the non communicable diseases are rising. In the rural areas of India, the detection of hypertension is poor because of limited healthcare facilities and poor awareness among the people. In one such village, Mirzapur, adopted by the Aligarh Muslim University, there is a planned project to control hypertension in the villages through some innovative approaches. This study was the assessment phase of this project for mass management of hypertension to steer and guide the next phase of the project. AIM: The main objectives of this study were: to determine the prevalence of hypertension in residents ≥ 40 years in Mirzapur village, Aligarh, and, to assess the presence of rule of halves in hypertension RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: The present study in residents more than 40 years of age in the Mirzapur village in Aligarh found that the prevalence of hypertension in the study population was 41.9%, with a higher prevalence in older age groups. The mean blood pressure of the study population was found to be 100.03±13.17 mm Hg. The high prevalence reported in the present study reflects and reaffirms the increasing trend of hypertension in not only the urban, but also rural India, at least in the older age group. The problem of hypertension, due to its silent and asymptomatic nature, frequently depicts a rule of halves in places with weaker health system and an equally weaker health awareness and information among populations and the same is true for this village. CONCLUSION: There is an urgent need to conduct similar researches in other adopted villages of the country for the sake of inclusive development to find the exact burden of this silent and asymptomatic killer. More importantly, there is a need to find innovative solutions to combat the problem of hypertension detection and management.