BLOOD PRESSURE AWARENESS AMONG GENERAL POPULATION: A RURAL WEST BENGAL EXPERIENCE WITH LOGISTIC REGRESSION

Objectives: The study was conducted with an objective to find out the awareness of self blood pressure in a rural community of West Bengal and factors associated with it. Methods: A community based cross-sectional study on self BP awareness among adults (≥18 years) was carried out in a rural community of West Bengal through house to house visits. Total study subjects were1201 (Male=598; Female=603) of which 132 (11%) were hypertensive. Results: Only 17.2% of all study subjects were aware of their own BP readings with no male-female difference. This awareness was significantly associated with age, education, economic status and hypertension, which remained significant, even after multiple logistic regressions. Even among hypertensives, only 38% were aware of their self BP. Nearly 67.11% of the study subjects had no knowledge about complications of hypertension. About 86.92% of the study subjects were ignorant about the life style changes required to prevent hypertension. Regarding hypertension control/treatment, 72.85% of study subjects were unaware. In general, males had better knowledge compared to females,although not always statistically significant. Conclusion: Self BP awareness among this study population was very poor even among the hypertensives leading to a high risk of cerebrovascular accidents and coronary heart diseases. Interpersonal communication in medical facilities as well as other strategies like group-discussions (general and focal), mass media and general education system can be utilized to improve the situation. [National J of Med Res 2012; 2(1.000): 55-58]