Hypertension in India: Trends in Prevalence, Awareness, Treatment and Control

Hypertension (HTN) is the attributable cause for 57% of stroke and 24% of coronary heart disease deaths in India. High prevalence of hypertension has been reported from various regions of the country. Recent studies have reported that shown that hypertension is present in 25- 30% urban and 10-20% rural subjects in India. This translates into an approximate population burden of 100- 110 million persons with high blood pressure (BP). Approximately half to two-thirds of these are stage I hypertension (systolic BP 140-159 and/or diastolic BP 90- 99 mm Hg) and the rest have stage II -III disease. There is low awareness, treatment and control status of hypertension in India, more among the rural than in urban populations. Determinants of low hypertension treatment and control are rural locations, low socioeconomic and educational status and female gender. Public health strategies are important for creating awareness of hypertension and physician education is required for its better treatment and control. Use of non -physician community health workers and mHealth technology are promising tools for increasing rates of hypertension treatment and promote control and adherence to healthy lifestyles and medicines.