LAUSR

Objectives: To describe the prevalence and treatment of hypertension stratified for age and gender in rural India. Methods: In relation to May Measurement Month 2017,we did a population survey in villages of India. In door to door survey,individuals above 18 years were screened. Results: Among 36,892 individuals, 1163 (3,2%) had treated hypertension (HTN) and blood pressure (BP) was controlled in 481 (41.4%) of these patients. Among the untreated individuals 23.7% had BP >  = 140/90 mmHg and 7,0% had BP >  = 160/100 mmHg. Patients with untreated HTN were older with higher BMI and more often men,P < 0.001. The prevalence of untreated HTN increased gradually with age. In the entire group 9641 had HTN, but only 12.1% received antihypertensive treatment and only in 5.0% was BP controlled. The fraction of subjects with treated HTN increased from less than 1% in subjects younger than 40 years to more than 6% in subjects older than 60 years and the fraction was higher in women in all age groups. The fraction of treated subjects with uncontrolled HTN tended to be higher in women and rather constant in all ages above 30 years both in men and in women. The fraction of subjects with HTN receiving anti-hypertensive drugs was lower than 7% in men and women younger than 40 and 50 years, respectively. In subjects older than 60 years, the fraction of subjects with HTN receiving anti-hypertensive drugs was approximately 15% and 20% in men and women, respectively. Conclusion: In rural India,HTN was very prevalent even in younger ages where HTN was unrecognized and therefore untreated in more than 93%. Less than half of the few subjects receiving anti-hypertensive treatment had blood pressure below 140/90 mmHg. These results underline the need for broad hypertension screening combined with intervention and follow-up.