Diet and lifestyle risk factors associated with young adult hypertensives in India - Analysis of National Family Health Survey IV

Background: Young adults with hypertension have a higher lifetime risk of cardiovascular diseases. Global evidence suggests a significant role of diet and lifestyle risk factors on hypertension among the young adult (aged 18-39 years) hypertensive population.

Aim: The purpose of this study was to look for the association of diet and lifestyle risk factors with young adult hypertensives.

Results: This study reports the prevalence of young adult hypertension based on a national representative sample based on the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-4) data and the association of behavioral risk factors with young adult hypertension. The survey adopted a two-stage stratified random sampling. The outcome variable was hypertension, whereas the exposure variables were various diet and lifestyle factors. The prevalence of young adult hypertension in India was 12.4% among men and 8.2% among women. Sikkim had the highest prevalence among both sexes. Lower prevalence was seen in the states of Delhi and Kerala. Marital status, body mass index, eating meat, alcohol intake, and taking coffee or tobacco 30 min before BP measurement were found to be associated factors that put both the sexes at risk of developing hypertension. The wealth index was concluded as a risk factor only in men while the level of education came out to be a risk factor only in females.

Conclusion: This study is the first from India which gives a recent estimate of prevalence of young adult hypertension by state and individual level characteristics in addition to national level estimates for India.