TY - JOUR T1 - Sex differences in the risk profile of hypertension: a cross-sectional study JF - BMJ Open JO - BMJ Open DO - 10.1136/bmjopen-2015-010085 VL - 6 IS - 7 SP - e010085 AU - Saswata Ghosh AU - Simantini Mukhopadhyay AU - Anamitra Barik Y1 - 2016/07/01 UR - http://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/6/7/e010085.abstract N2 - Objective To assess the socioeconomic and behavioural risk factors associated with hypertension among a sample male and female population in India.Setting Cross-sectional survey data from a Health and Demographic Surveillance System (HDSS) of rural West Bengal, India was used.Participants 27 589 adult individuals (13 994 males and 13 595 females), aged ≥18 years, were included in the study.Primary and secondary outcome measures Hypertension was defined as mean systolic blood pressure (SBP) ≥140 mm Hg or diastolic blood pressure (DBP) ≥90 mm Hg, or if the subject was undergoing regular antihypertensive therapy. Prehypertension was defined as SBP 120–139 mm Hg and DBP 80–89 mm Hg. Individuals were categorised as non-normotensives, which includes both the prehypertensives and hypertensives. Generalised ordered logit model (GOLM) was deployed to fulfil the study objective.Results Over 39% of the men and 25% of the women were prehypertensives. Almost 12.5% of the men and 11.3% of the women were diagnosed as hypertensives. Women were less likely to be non-normotensive compared to males. Odds ratios estimated from GOLM indicate that women were less likely to be hypertensive or prehypertensive, and age (OR 1.04, 95% CI 1.03 to 1.05; and OR 1.08, 95% CI 1.07 to 1.09 for males and females, respectively) and body mass index (OR 1.64, 95% CI 1.38 to 1.97 for males; and OR 1.32, 95% CI 1.08 to 1.60 for females) are associated with hypertension.Conclusions An elevated level of hypertension exists among a select group of the rural Indian population. Focusing on men, an intervention could be designed for lifestyle modification to curb the prevalence of hypertension. ER -