Prevalence of CVD risk factors among some tribal and nontribal populations of Jharkhand - A comparative survey

Background: World especially India had been witnessing a sharp increase of death and disability due to cardiovascular disease (CVD). Prevention, cure and management of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) necessitate true picture of the spread of CVD risk factors throughout the country. Among few surveys in India, very little reports were from state Jharkhand. This study aimed to report the status of CVD risk factors among tribal and nontribal population of Jharkhand.

Methods: Comparative study was conducted on rural tribals and urban nontribals with no apparent CVD related symptoms. Informed consents, filled up CVD risk questionnaire were collected. Anthropometric and behavioral data with measured Blood pressure (BP), blood sugar and body mass index (BMI) were analyzed by multivariate logistic regression to find out the association of inappropriate features related to CVD, if any with age, gender and ethnicity.

Results: Almost 2 fold more susceptibility to develop hypertension, pre-hypertension and obesity was found in nontribals over 8.0%, 15.6% and 22.1% of respective affected tribals. This trend increased up to 3 fold in > 40 years age group. This >40 when compared with < 40 years age group nearly 16 fold and 11 fold significantly increased hypertension risk was reported in nontribals and tribals respectively We report 14.8% diabetic in tribals, highest so far in India.

Conclusion: With age above 40 years, susceptibility to different CVD risk factors like hypertension, pre-hypertension, obesity, high MAP reported to increase severely in urban nontribals than rural tribals.