Prevalence and Associated Risk Factors of Hypertension among Adult Men and Women in India

Hypertension is one of the most common yet life-threatening health issues, and a recent estimate by the World Health Organization (WHO) shows that 1.28 billion people worldwide have hypertension, of whom two-thirds belong to low-and middle-income countries (LMICs).In India, the overall prevalence of hypertension is reported to be around 25-30% among adults aged 18 years and above.The present study aimed to investigate the prevalence and various risk factors of hypertension among men and women in India.The study used secondary data from the National Family Health Survey (NFHS)-5, 2019-2021, and conducted statistical analysis based on information gathered from 7,24,115 women aged 15-49 and 1,01,839 men aged 15-54 in India.Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were employed for data analysis, utilizing Stata software version 18, R version 4.3.2 and QGIS.Overall, hypertension was more common in men (21.1%) compared to women (16.5%).Among men, hypertension was more common in urban areas (23.4%) than in rural areas (20.4%).Among women, hypertension prevalence was 17.5% in urban and 15.5% in rural areas.Results indicate that hypertension prevalence increases with age.Women with higher educational attainment showed a significantly lower risk of hypertension [adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 0.72; 95% CI: 0.70-0.74;p < 0.001], but among men, higher education was associated with a 10% increased risk of hypertension (AOR = 1.10; 95% CI: 1.02-1.17;p < 0.001).Hypertension continues to be a major public health issue in India and requires significant efforts to reduce its prevalence.An effective, multifaceted implementation strategy is crucial to address the growing burden of hypertension.