What is known about topic?

• Rising prevalence of hypertension in rural India.

• Multiple risk factors, both modifiable and non-modifiable. Significant among them being, age, sex, ethnicity, family history, obesity, not being physically active, use of tobacco, alcohol, diet related including too much salt or too little potassium or Vitamin D, Stress, and certain chronic conditions such as kidney disease, diabetes, and sleep apnea.

What this study adds?

• Actual prevalence of hypertension in the area of survey and effect of control measures being adopted.

• Demonstration of decline in diastolic blood pressure among males in fifth decade of life which is 15 years earlier than the documented data from the Western world. This is likely to result in a revised strategy for hypertension management especially in individuals with myocardial infarction in view of the J-curve phenomenon.

• Effect of risk factors including illiteracy, poverty, physical activity, consumption of alcohol, and consumption of palm oil have been reported differently in the study than in earlier studies.

• Identification of hypertensives including those previously diagnosed and on inappropriate management and putting them on a structured protocol with continuous monitoring.

• The current cross-sectional study of the population has thus identified the individuals with hypertension and other non-communicable diseases as well as those at high risk of these diseases in the community and has provided a large cohort, which is now being followed up through the clinics established in the study location to understand comprehensively the impact of risk factors on the disease process and their control. It has thereby provided a platform for implementation and evaluation of population based interventional strategies in a semi-rural population which comprises a large subsection of the Indian population in a transitional stage of evolution from a rural to an urban society.