A study of risk factors and complications in elderly hypertensive subjects

BACKGROUND: Hypertension among the elderly is a major, highly prevalent yet treatable cardiovascular disease. AIMS & OBJECTIVES: Study aims to highlight the risk factors for hypertension in the elderly in an urban setup for the benefit of improving quality of life and also reduce the incidence of the cardiovascular related complications. METHODOLOGY: This is a Cross-sectional observational study. Included 125 study subjects based on selection criteria. The selected patients were subjected to a preformed and pretested schedule of questions pertaining to the risk factors. RESULTS: Among the known hypertensive patients above 60 years of age, 125 subjects were included in the study. Smoking (62%), alcohol consumption (21%), family history of hypertension (26%), family history of diabetes (70%) were statistically significant risk factors observed for the development of hypertension. CONCLUSION: Sedentary lifestyle (physically less active) and anthropometric measures like overweight and obesity, abnormal waist circumference, and abnormal waist hip ratio were all identified as remarkable risk for hypertension. Myocardial infarction (20%), stroke (14%), and heart failure (12%) were the chart buster complications of hypertension in the vulnerable geriatric population.