© 2019. Al Ameen Charitable Fund Trust, Bangalore 68 Al Ameen J Med Sci 2019; 12(2):68-72  US National Library of Medicine enlisted journal  ISSN 0974-1143 ORIGINAL ARTICLE CODEN: AAJMBG Prevalence of hypertension among the elderly people of Belagavi city, Karnataka: A community based cross sectional study Anup Singh 1* , Ashwini Narasannavar 2 and Zameera Naik 3 1 MPH, Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, KAHER, Nehru Nagar, Belagavi, Karnataka, India, 2 Department of Public Health, Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, Nehru Nagar, KAHER, Belagavi, Karnataka, India and 3 Department of Oral Medicine and Radiology, VK Institute of Dental Sciences, Nehru Nagar, KAHER, Belagavi, Karnataka, India Abstract: Background: The definition of hypertension does not change with age. In elder people Systolic Blood Pressure (SBP) of>140 mm Hg and a Diastolic Blood Pressure (DBP) of >90 mm is hypertension. As both SBP and DBP increase with age, SBP rises gradually until the age of 70 or 80, whereas DBP increases until the age of 50 or 60 and then both may decline or level up. Objective: To estimate the prevalence of hypertension among elderly population aged 60 years and above. Methods: A cross-sectional community-based study was conducted among elderly population aged 60 years and above. A pretested, semi-structured questionnaire was administered to collect data. Blood pressure, height and weight were measured and recorded. Average of the readings was noted. Ethical clearance was obtained and informed consent taken from study participants. Data was analyzed using SPSS 20. Results: The overall prevalence of hypertension among the study participants was 49.99%. Among the hypertensive subjects, prevalence of hypertension among male subjects was 12% (48) and in female subjects was 13% (52). About 37.8% (151) were already aware of their hypertension status. Conclusion: Prevalence of hypertension among elderly was high in urban areas of Belagavi city. The prevalence of hypertension was high among females than in males. Keywords: Prevalence, Hypertension, Elderly, Urban. Introduction The definition of hypertension does not change with age. In elder people Systolic Blood Pressure (SBP) of >140 mm Hg and a Diastolic Blood Pressure (DBP) of >90 mm is hypertension [1-2]. Globally, the overall prevalence of raised blood pressure in adults aged 25 years and over was found to be 40% in 2008. The uncontrolled hypertension rose from 600 million in 1980 to nearly 1 billion in 2008 [3]. High blood pressure (BP) is a major public health problem in India and prevalence of it is rapidly increasing both in urban and rural populations. A survey done on 26,000 adults in South India showed a hypertension prevalence of 20% with 23% in men and 17% in female. Recent studies showed that the ratio of hypertensive person to undiagnosed hypertension or pre-hypertension was 1:2. [4-5]. This study was done with the objective to determine the prevalence among geriatric population aged 60 years and above living in urban city of Belagavi, Karnataka. Material and Methods A cross-sectional community-based study was conducted among elderly population aged 60 years and above residing in the urban community of Belagavi city. The sample size was estimated to be 400, by taking prevalence as 58% and an allowable error of 10%. Ethical approval was taken from Institutional Ethical Committee, JNMC, KAHER, Belagavi, Karnataka. A total of 400 subjects aged 60 years and above were randomly included by convenient sampling technique. The study was conducted over a period of one year. The data was collected from March 2017 to January 2018. Elderly people aged 60 years and above of urban area of Belagavi were included in the study whereas elderly people who were physically disabled, chronic bed ridden and who didn’t gave consent were excluded from the study. The pilot study was done on 10% of the sample size (i.e. 40 participants) which was not included in the study.