Key result
Hypertension affects ~37% of hospital sanitary workers alongside low awareness and poor blood pressure control.
Why the study?
Sanitary workers have a higher tendency to develop hypertension due to spending time in polluted or stressful environments, but data on prevalence, awareness, and control in this group were needed.
Cross-Sectional (n=311)
No
More than one-third of sanitary workers in a South Indian tertiary care center have hypertension, with alarmingly low rates of awareness and control, highlighting the need for targeted workplace screening.
High prevalence with low awareness and control among sanitary workers supports targeted screening; leaves open whether workplace programs improve outcomes.
BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Sanitary workers have higher tendency to develop hypertension as they spend most of their time in polluted or stressful environments. Hence, the current study was done to determine the prevalence, awareness and control of hypertension among sanitary workers in tertiary care centre in Puducherry. METHODS: A cross sectional study was conducted among the sanitary workers in tertiary care centre from May to December 2019. Socio-demographic, work related and behavioural characteristics was obtained using a pretested semi-structured questionnaire. Individuals was diagnosed as hypertensive if systolic BP ≥140 mmHg and/or diastolic BP ≥90 mmHg. RESULTS: Prevalence of hypertension among the sanitary workers was 36.6% (95% CI: 31.3-41.3%). Amongst them, only 34 (29.8%) participants were aware of their hypertension status. Prehypertension was present in 114 out of 277 participants (41.1%; 95% CI: 35.3-47.2%) without any history of hypertension. Among the 34 patients with known hypertension, only 12 (35.3%) had controlled BP. Workers in age group of 40 years (aPR = 1.22), unmarried workers (aPR-1.65), obese workers (aPR-1.25), current tobacco users (aPR-1.61) and alcohol users (aPR-1.25) had significantly higher association with hypertension. CONCLUSION: Current study found that more than one-third of the sanitary workers had hypertension. However, almost three fourth of the hypertensives were not aware about their status and only one-third of the known hypertension cases had controlled BP. Hence, it is important to conduct periodic screening and awareness sessions about the possible risk factors for better prevention and control of hypertension.
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Krishnamoorthy et al. (2020) conducted a cross-sectional in Hypertension (n=311). Sanitary work was evaluated on Prevalence of hypertension (95% CI 31.3-41.3). Among sanitary workers in a tertiary care center, the prevalence of hypertension was 36.6% (95% CI: 31.3-41.3%), with low awareness (29.8%) and poor control (35.3%) among known cases.