Association of work and hypertension among middle-aged adults and elderly Indians

Over two-fifth of middle-aged adults and elderly (45 +) in India are hypertensive. Though studies examined prevalence, awareness and control of hypertension, little is known on the association of hypertension with work status in India. This study examines the variations of hypertension by types of work among middle-aged adults and the elderly in India.

Data were drawn from the Longitudinal Aging Survey of India (LASI), Wave 1, 2017-18, and analysis was restricted to participants aged 45 and above with complete information on employment and blood pressure (N = 59,196).

We estimated the adjusted prevalence of hypertension at 49.2% (95% CI, 47.8-50.6) among the ever worked but not currently working and 44.5% (95% CI, 43.1-45.8) among currently working. Among eight broad categories of the currently working population, the adjusted estimates of hypertension were highest among legislators, senior officials and managers (71.5%; 95% CI, 41.9-101.0), followed by service and sales worker workers (44.7%; 95% CI, 41.2-48.2) and least among the professionals (37.1%; 95% CI, 27.1-47.2). Relative to never worked, legislators, senior officials and managers were twice more likely [adjusted OR (AOR) 2.00; 95% CI, 0.74-5.39] to be hypertensive, followed by plant and machine operators (AOR 1.33; 95% CI, 1.04-1.71). The odds of being hypertensive was least among those engaged in professional (engineering, health, education) activities. The other significant predictors are age, sex, residence, education level, household economic condition, family history of hypertension, chronic disease and depression.

The risk of hypertension varies with the types of work in which older Indians are engaged. Awareness and treatment of hypertension in high-risk occupation are recommended.