Occupational Medicine & Health Affairs
Open Access

Abstract

Background: Hypertension is a common disease affecting about 20% of the adult population, both in developed and developing world (WHO 2002). It is one of the serious public health problems of the world. Many people are unaware that they are hypertensives. Others have been diagnosed but fail to comply with treatment. Purpose: To find out the prevalence of systemic hypertension in GOPD and to study the effect of drugs and lifestyle education on the blood pressure over time. Methods: A total of 258 patients were included. Everyone of age more than 15 years was eligible. This study involved screening, diagnosis and management of the patients with blood pressure higher than 140/90 mmHg or known hypertension as per JNC7. The persons, who were diagnosed to have hypertension, were then counseled in terms of life style modification, investigated and treated as per the JNC 7 guidelines. Results: Out of 258 subjects, 145 were diagnosed to have hypertension in the initial screening. The blood pressure was in the normal range in the younger age groups, with a gradual increase in grades of hypertension with increasing age. Among females, the majority remained normotensive up until the sixth decade, whereas the male participants started to show a higher range of blood pressure by the fifth decade. More than 30% of the screened population were smokers or had smoked regularly in the past and all of them were either regular or occasional drinkers. There was a small but statistically insignificant increase in number of positive family history conditions in cases with stage 1 and 2 hypertension. Conclusion: The study showed that the prevalence of hypertension is 56% in general outpatient department of the BPKIHS. Thus, drugs and the lifestyle education have a dr_yadavashok@yahoo.com

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