A cross-sectional study of prevalence of overweight and hypertension among veterans in Eastern Uttar Pradesh

Authors

  • Saibal Adhya Department of Community Medicine, Armed Forces Medical College, Pune, Maharashtra, India
  • Arun Tyagi Department of Medicine, DVVPF’s Medical College, Ahmednagar, Maharashtra, India http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3959-8025
  • Vivek Anand Department of Community Medicine, Armed Forces Medical College, Pune, Maharashtra, India
  • Pavithra V. Military Hospital, Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20212608

Keywords:

Veterans, Hypertension, Overweight, Obesity

Abstract

Background: Health problems of veterans have not been studied extensively. Obesity though not a major problem while in service, could be a major factor leading to morbidity and mortality due to lifestyle diseases seen among overweight/obese people.

Methods: Status of overweight and hypertension was studied among ex-servicemen population of a military station in the age group of primarily 50-70 years.

Results: More than 35% veterans were found to be overweight/obese. Underweight was a more serious problem than overweight among those above 70 years of age. Prevalence of hypertension was also high (25%). There was weak association of overweight with hypertension among ex-servicemen because the problem seems to appear late in life. This association was stronger upto 60 years of age after which it starts decreasing.

Conclusions: The problems of overweight and obesity and hypertension constitute considerable health burden among the veterans. However, a significant causal association could not be established between overweight and hypertension.

Author Biography

Arun Tyagi, Department of Medicine, DVVPF’s Medical College, Ahmednagar, Maharashtra, India

Prof and HOD,

References

Kumbhar SK, Joshi JK, Tapare VS, Yadav JU. Morbidity profile of ex-servicemen residing in Sangli-Miraj-Kupwad municipal corporation area and its relationship with certain clinico-epidemiological factors. Indian J Comm Med. 2007;32:111-4.

Jura M, Kozak LP. Obesity and related consequences to ageing. Age (Dordr). 2016;38(1):23.

Luhar S, Timæus IM, Jones R, Cunningham S, Patel SA, Kinra S, et al. Forecasting the prevalence of overweight and obesity in India to 2040. PLoS One. 2020;15(2):e0229438.

Agarwal A, Lubet A, Mitgang E, Mohanty S, Bloom DE. Population Aging in India: Facts, Issues, and Options. Institute for the Study of labour, Bonn, Germany (IFA) Discussion Paper 10162. 2016. Available at: http://ftp.iza.org/dp10162.pdf. Accessed on 18 April 2021.

Almond N, Kahwati L, Kinsinger L, Porterfield D. The Prevalence of Overweight and Obesity among U.S. Military Veterans. Millit Med. 2008;173(6):544-9. Accessed on 18 April 2021.

Obesity: preventing and managing the global epidemic, Report of a WHO Consultation (WHO Technical Report Series 894). Available at: https://www.who.int/nutrition/publications/obesity/WHO_TRS_894/en/. Accessed on 18 April 2021.

Standard Treatment Guidelines: Screening, Diagnosis, Assessment and Management of Primary Hypertension in Adults in India. Available at: https://nhm.gov.in. 2016. Available at: https://nhm.gov.in/images/pdf/guidelines/nrhm-guidelines/stg/Hypertension_full.pdf. Accessed on 18 April 2021.

Sharma MK, Swami H M, Bhatia V, Verma A, Bhatia S P, Kaur G. An Epidemiological study of correlates of Osteo-Arthritis in geriatric population of UT Chandigarh. Indian Journal of Community Medicine 2007; 32(1): 77-78. DOI:10.4103/0970-0218.53414

Swami HM, Bhatia V, Gupta AK, Bhatia SPS. An Epidemiological study of obesity among elderly in Chandigarh. Indian J Comm Med. 2005;30(1):11-13.

Singh P, Kapil U, Dey AB. Prevalence of overweight and obesity amongst elderly patients attending a geriatric clinic in a tertiary care hospital in Delhi, India. Indian J Med Sci. 2004;58(4):162-3.

Nelson KM. The burden of obesity among a national probability sample of veterans. J Gen Intern Med. 2006;21(9):915-9.

Kress AM, Hartzel MC, Peterson Kress MR. Burden of disease associated with overweight and obesity among U.S. military retirees and their dependents, aged 38–64, 2003. Prev Med. 2005;41:63-9.

Das S, Kinsinger LS, Yancy WS, Wang A, Ciesco E, Burdick M, et al. Obesity prevalence among veterans at Veterans Affairs medical facilities. Am J Prev Med. 2005;28(3):291-4.

Bookwalter D, Porter B, Jacobson I, Kong S, Littman A, Rull R, et al. Healthy behaviors and incidence of overweight and obesity in military veterans. Ann Epidemiol. 2019;39:26-32.

Williamson V, Rossetto A, Murphy D. Relationship between obesity and health problems in help-seeking military veterans. BMJ Mil Health. 2020;166:227-31.

Ramakrishnan S, Zachariah G, Gupta K, Shivkumar Rao J, Mohanan PP, Venugopal K, et al. Prevalence of hypertension among Indian adults: Results from the great India blood pressure survey. Indian Heart J. 2019;71(4):309-13.

Alter DA, Wijeysundera HC, Franklin B, Austin PC, Chong A, Oh PI, et al. Obesity, lifestyle risk-factors, and health service outcomes among healthy middle-aged adults in Canada. BMC Health Serv Res. 2012;12:238.

Aronow WS. Association of obesity with hypertension. Ann Transl Med. 2017;5(17):350.

Jiang SZ, Lu W, Zong XF, Ruan HY, Liu Y. Obesity and hypertension. Exp Ther Med. 2016;12(4):2395-9.

Downloads

Published

2021-06-25

How to Cite

Adhya, S., Tyagi, A., Anand, V., & V., P. (2021). A cross-sectional study of prevalence of overweight and hypertension among veterans in Eastern Uttar Pradesh. International Journal Of Community Medicine And Public Health, 8(7), 3497–3501. https://doi.org/10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20212608

Issue

Section

Original Research Articles