Purpose: There is no community based study of prevalence of hypertension from Himachal Pradesh, so we undertook this study.
Methods and results: Population based survey was done in three villages of Himachal Pradesh of different Districts. Total 1092 adults of > or =18 years of age were examined. 507 (46.42%) were males and 573 (52.47%) were females. 392 (35.89%) were found to have hypertension (39.8% in males and 33.15% in females). 267 had their blood pressure in pre-hypertensive range (24.45%). Only 433 (39.6%) had their blood pressure in normal range. 84 (21.98%) of 392 hypertensive persons were aware of their hypertensive status and only 17 of these 84 (20.23%) had their blood pressure under control.
Conclusion: Prevalence of hypertension was higher than the national average. Only one fifth of hypertensive persons were aware of their disease and only fifth of these had their blood pressure under control.