Abstract
Objectives
The study aims to examine the linkages between occupation and elevated blood pressure among men aged 25–54 years in India.
Methods
The study is based on the National Family Health Survey India, 2015–16. Age-standardized prevalence rates, χ2 tests and multivariable ordered logistic regression models were used to fulfill the study objectives.
Results
In India, more than five out of hundred men of age group 25–54 years are suffering from moderately or severely elevated blood pressure levels. The findings depict an occupation wise inequality in the elevated blood pressure levels. Men belonging to professional-managerial-technical (PR = 6.42 per 100 men) and sales (PR = 6.10 per 100 men) occupational groups are facing a much higher burden. From the fitted multivariable ordered logistic models, we found that highly educated-unemployed and married-unemployed men were found to be at higher risk of elevated blood pressure levels.
Conclusions
The study found linkages between the occupation of men and elevated blood pressure levels in India. Urgent attention is needed to the vulnerable occupational groups like professional-technical-managerial, clerical, and sales with a special focus to the unemployed cohort of the country.
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Acknowledgments
The authors are thankful to Ms. Parul Puri, Senior Research Fellow, International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS), India, for her suggestions to modify the paper and also for providing the English editting support. The authors also acknowledge the anonymous reviewers and editor for their fruitful comments and suggestions.
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The present research did not receive any kind of grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
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CS conceptualized the study. AS analyzed the data, interpreted the findings and prepared the first draft of the manuscript. Both CS and AS reviewed and revised the final draft of the manuscript. AS and CS contributed equally to the paper. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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The analysis is based on secondary data available in public domain for research; thus, no approval was required from any institutional review board (IRB). However, the principal Investigations have sought approval from the IRB of International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS), Mumbai, India.
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Data is freely available on the Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) website: https://dhsprogram.com/data/dataset/India_Standard-DHS_2015.cfm?flag=1 .
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Shekhar, C., Shil, A. Linkages between occupation and elevated blood pressure among men in India: a cross-sectional study. Int J Public Health 65, 835–846 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00038-020-01411-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00038-020-01411-5