The Prevalence of Obesity and Hypertension in Urban Tamilnadu

Background: Obesity and hypertension are undesirable outcomes of changing lifestyles and behaviours especially in traditional societies in many developing countries which have experienced rapid and unplanned urbanization. Objective: To know the prevalence of obesity and hypertension in an urban adult population of Salem, Tamilnadu. Materials and Methods: An observational cross-sectional study in the Salem town of Tamilnadu was carried out by using a pre-designed and a pretested schedule. 10 hospitals of the Salem town were selected randomly, after making a list of all the hospitals. Every 10th adult patient was selected in the hospital OPD clinic, till the number reached 30 during a 2 week duration. Consent was taken before the study. 263 respondents (94 females and 169 males) were selected for the analysis out of 300 adults. The Epi Info software was used for the analysis. The Chi-square test, t test and the Pearson's correlation tests were used for studying the significance. Results: The age range was 18 to 85 years; the majority (79.8%) was above 35 years of age. The waist circumference (WC) was positively correlated with the body mass index (BMI) and the systolic blood pressure. Females had a significantly higher BMI value than the males. Based on the internationally recommended BMI cut-off points, 44.9% respondents were found to be pre-obese and 19.0% were obese. The estimated risk for the females to have an increased metabolic risk was 9.4 times that of the males. 60.8% persons had abdominal fat accumulation, based on the waist to hip ratio. 43.3% persons were hypertensive. A significantly higher proportion of males were severely hypertensive than the females. Conclusion: The females were at an increased risk of obesity, but the males were at increased risk of hypertension. Age was found to be a stronger risk factor for obesity and hypertension.