Sociodemographic Factors Associated With Blood Pressure and Serum Lipids in Healthy Indians

Abstract

Background: Cardiovascular diseases are the largest cause of mortality worldwide and in India the incidences of CVDs have increased for people between the ages 25-69, thus losing more productive people to these diseases. Objective: To study the effect of age and gender on blood pressure, serum lipids and anthropometric indices among normal healthy individuals. Material and methods: The study population consisted of 400 normal healthy individuals divided into two age-groups: 30-50years and 51-80 years. Exclusion criteria included evidence of hypertension (diastolic BP > 80 mm Hg) and use of medication. Blood samples were drawn from all the subjects following an overnight fast and TC, TG and HDL-C were measured enzymatically using “Accucare” kits. Serum LDL-cholesterol (LDL-C) was calculated by Fredrickson-Friedwald formula. Blood pressure (BP) and anthropometric measurements were measured by a standardized protocol. Statistical analysis was done using the students -'t' test. Results: BP, serum lipids, atherogenic ratios and WHR increased with age in both genders and this rise was significant (P less than 0.05) except in the parameter TG. Also HDL-C in males, atherogenic ratios in females and BMI showed a decrease with age but this decrease was insignificant. Moreover, in both the age groups: 30-50 and 51-80, females were having lower BP, serum lipids and WHR than those of males of corresponding age groups except HDL-C and BMI. This difference between male and female in both the age groups was found to be extremely significant. (P less than 0.001) Conclusions: In our study, both age and gender are important atherogenic factors, which indicate that with increase in age, the older individuals both male and female are more susceptible to the development of HT and CVDs.