A Study Of Hypertension In Adult Population (20-60 Years) Of A Rural Area Of J&K State

Research questions: 1. What is the magnitude of problem of hypertension in adult population of a rural area of J&K? 2. What is the role of socio- demographic factors? Objectives: To study the extent of problem of hypertension in terms of prevalence and distribution of cases. Study design: Case – control. Setting: Villages of R.S Pura block, Distt. Jammu. Participants: Adult population (20-60 years). Simple size: 4267 adults (20-60 years) from 17 villages. Study variables: Age, sex, caste, religion, marital status, literacy. Outcome variables: Prevalence. Statistical analysis: ANOVA, S.E of diff. of means and proportions, Chi- square test. Results: Prevalence of hypertension in adult population was observed to be 8.31%. It was higher in females (10.8%) in comparison to males (6.34%), which was statistically significant (p<0.05). There was a consistent rise in prevalence rate from 1.4% to 31.93% with the increase in age group from 20-25 years to 55-60 years in both sexes, which is highly significant (p<0.01). Marital status & literacy did not seem to contribute towards hypertension.