A Study on Diet Intake Pattern and Hypertension in Urban Population of Eluru, Andhra Pradesh

The latest WHO Statistics report 2013 reveals that worldwide prevalence of hypertension is 29.2% for males and 24.8% for females. In the year 2005 the World Health Organization issued a plan 2012–2013 for NCD prevention and control which offers the health community a new global goal to reduce death rates from all chronic diseases by 2% per year over above.

1. To study the prevalence of hypertension in urban population of Eluru. 2. To find the dietary factors associated to hypertension among the urban population.

The present community based cross sectional study was conducted at urban area of Eluru, Andhra Pradesh, during the period from June 2013 to June 2014. A total of 533 individuals were selected randomly from the urban field practice area of Alluri Sita Ramaraju Academy of Medical Sciences. Results were analyzed and necessary statistical tests were applied.

Out of 533 study population, 52.1% were males and 47.9% were females. In the study population, 507 (95.1%) people were having habit of mixed vegetarian. High prevalence of hypertension was noticed in vegetarians. There was statistically significant association was found between more quantity of oil intaker population, high body mass Index (BMI) individuals were significantly associated with hypertension respectively (P<0.01, P< 0.001)

Based on the above study results, prevalence of hypertension was more in vegetarians. There was more number of hypertension cases were reported in > 5 grams salt intake individuals and the association was statistically not significant (P>0.05). We can advocates the study population, that is adoption of some dietary life style modifications like decreased quantity of oil, maintenance of normal BMI and avoidance of junk food in between the meals as far as possible.