Prevalence of Hypertension in Policemen in Greyhounds Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India

BACKGROUND Hypertension, an elevated blood pressure of systolic /diastolic, is a serious medical condition and is a "silent killer" which increases the risks of heart disease, brain stroke, renal diseases etc. The WHO estimate is that 45% of deaths from heart disease and 51% of deaths from stroke worldwide are caused by hypertension. Policemen working in Greyhounds are having one of the most stressful occupations; hypertension is highly prevalent in this population, because their job is task-oriented, stressful duties and combing operations in naxalite areas. Some of the policemen habituated to unhealthy habits like smoking, consumption of alcohol and irregular dietary pattern. The contributory factors like obesity, excessive dietary sodium intake, and low physical activity, family history of hypertension increase BMI. The prevalence of hypertension observed among Greyhounds policemen is 39.6%, which is significantly higher than previous studies of hypertension in policemen. Hypertension can be prevented by adopting healthy lifestyle modifications, periodical check-ups, timely diagnosis and treatment. In this study, we wanted to find out the prevalence of hypertension in the policemen randomly selected in greyhounds Visakhapatnam. METHODS A cross-sectional study of total of 124 police men randomly selected greyhounds Visakhapatnam, the age ranged from 18 to 60 years. Data were collected using sphygmomanometer, body mass analyser (In Body 570), semi-structured interview schedule, and analysed in EXCEL using SPSS version 21.0. RESULTS Among 124 participants, 49 (39.6%) participants were found to be hypertensive. Increasing age, family history, smoking, higher BMI, presence of diabetes were the significant factors associated with hypertension among study subjects. CONCLUSIONS Hypertension in policemen emerged as an important health problem. Therefore, it is the need of the hour to devise a sound screening strategy to diagnose and treat hypertension among policemen. Devise a comprehensive strategy for the management of HTN.