Is the Younger Generation Alert Enough to Face The Challenges of Hypertension?

The prevalence of hypertension is on increase in developing countries. WHO estimated 972 million hypertensive people in the year 2010 where 65% lived in developing countries with the number predicted to grow to 1.5 billion by 2025. Change in living patterns, lack of knowledge & awareness to prevent it are major issues. There seems a definite need to monitor the magnitude of the problem, knowledge & awareness among young groups & then plan accordingly the intervention strategy for the same to make them alert & concern for their better healthy life.

To assess students’ knowledge about high blood pressure & their attitude towards its complexity.

A cross sectional survey was conducted among young female hostellers from different streams in Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi. A set of questions assessing lifestyle related health risk behaviour, awareness & knowledge of high blood pressure were used.

The analysis of data showed that majority of the girls i.e. around 97% have heard the term High Blood Pressure but lacking the knowledge what exactly hypertension means. More than half of the girls confirmed that their B.P was measured earlier, whereas only 45% were aware of what normal blood pressure reading should be. More than two-third of the students accepted that less stress & regular exercise can prevent high blood pressure.

The study identified some gaps in knowledge regarding hypertension among students. Evidence of such information would enable health promotional activities tailored to the needs of young age group to prevent high blood pressure & associated diseases.