Hypertension as a silent epidemic among late adolescent girls, its associated demographic factors, and pregnancy outcome: A report from national family health survey (NFHS) IV data

BACKGROUND: Hypertension is predominantly considered to be a disease frequently occurring after the fifth decade of life, its occurrence among adolescents has not received much public health attention. Pathophysiological and epidemiological evidence suggests that essential hypertension initiate in childhood and often goes unnoticed unless explicitly observed for this age group. AIM: The current study estimates the prevalence of hypertension, its predictors, and pregnancy outcome among late adolescent girls (15–19 years). MATERIAL AND METHODS: The study used secondary data from the NFHS 4 from January 2015 to December 2016. The sample of 1,24,878 adolescent girls out of 6,99,686, national women’s data was obtained through a stratified two-stage sample using a population proportionate to size sampling methodology. Descriptive statistical tests and inferential statistics were performed to find the relation of hypertension with the independent variables and Chi-square analysis to study association of hypertension during pregnancy and its adverse pregnancy outcomes. RESULTS: The prevalence of hypertension among the late adolescents was 16.4% [CI: 16.2-16.6] (n=20,532). On multivariable logistic regression (after adjusting for all the variables) only age [AOR: 1.09 (1.08-1.11)]; education [AOR: 1.09 (1.006 – 1.2)], and wealth index [AOR: 1.17 (1.11 – 1.24)] retained the significance with hypertension. A significant association was seen between hypertension status of the adolescents and adverse pregnancy outcomes (χ(2) = 4.550, P = 0.033). CONCLUSION: Nearly 1/6(th) of late adolescents found to be hypertensive, significantly contribution to disease burden. Also, a significant association is seen between hypertension status of adolescents and adverse pregnancy outcomes. Hence, it is imperative to make the National Programme inclusive for adolescents and have a focused approach to health promotion, prevention, and management of non-communicable diseases.