Abstract :
Introduction: Longevity has increased significantly in the past few decades due to demographic transition in India. So there is likely to be a huge burden of chronic non-communicable diseases in the near future. Hypertension is one of the most important treatable causes of morbidity in the elderly. It accounts for a large proportion of cardiovascular diseases in the elderly. Hence this study was done to know the socio-demographic profile and the prevalence of Hypertension among the elderly more than 60 years of age residing in urban field practice area of S.N. Medical College, Bagalkot.
Materials and Methods: A cross sectional community based study was done in urban field practice area of S. N. Medical College, Bagalkot, Karnataka.
According to a previous study done in Karnataka, the prevalence of hypertension among the elderly was 30.7% and sample size was calculated to 627.
Blood pressure measurement was done using the auscultatory method with a standardized calibrated mercury column sphygmomanometer.Data analysis was done using SPSS software version 20.
Result: Out of 627 elderly studied, males were 48.32% and females were 51.67%. Majority (64.27%) of the elderly were in the age group of 60-69 years followed by 28.36% between 70-79 years and 7.6% more than 80 years and above. Overall prevalence of hypertension among elderly is 51.99%. [Males 48.15% and females 51.84%]. Prevalence of overweight and obesity in hypertensives 17.2% and 66.9% in males and 12.4% and 53.3% in females respectively. Consumption of tobacco and alcohol was found to be more among males who are hypertensives. (p < 0>
Conclusion: There is increased need of outreach services for adequate health care of the elderly in developing countries like India.
Keyword :
Hypertension, Elderly, Urban area.