Spatial Variations in the Risk Factors of Hypertension Across Different Age Groups in Indian Adults: Insights from the Fifth Round of NFHS (2019-21).

Background: Hypertension (HTN) is the second leading risk factor for men, accounting for 125 million disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) in men and 90 million in women making it the leading risk factor globally. The study was planned to determine the prevalence and patterns of different risk factors of HTN and how they vary across different stages of life in adulthood and to develop a comprehensive risk score to predict HTN and observe its variations across the other states of India.

Methodology: This study is based on secondary data analysis provided by the fifth round of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS), and the survey was conducted among women aged 15-49 years and men aged 15-54 years. Demographic details, history of smoking and alcohol intake, presence of other morbidities, measurement of physical parameters, and blood pressure (BP) were the critical information collected from the population. The comprehensive risk score was also developed.

Results: Age-wise prevalence of HTN was 34% among males older than 45 years and 28% among females of the same age. The presence of diabetes was also found to be a significant risk factor. Statistical HTN analysis has shown a significant correlation between BP values and total risk scores in males and females (P < 0.001).

Conclusion: Assessing the risk factor profile can be highly beneficial as the two distributions are closely in sync, that is, where risk factor scores are lower, prevalence is higher.