Abstract

A door-to-door investigation of casual blood pressure (BP) was carried out in 1325 adults in an Indian rural community to study its distribution and the influence on BP levels of some correlative factors--namely, age, sex, weight, build, and socioeconomic status. Systolic and diastolic levels of BP rose with increasing age, weight, and build. However, the socioeconomic status of respondents did not significantly influence their BP levels. After the age of 40, women had considerably higher levels of systolic blood pressure (SBP) than men. Evidence was found of multimodality, espically in diastolic blood pressure (DBP) distributions. The need is emphasised for an extensive investigation to obtain more accurate and generalised results, utilising the technique of blood pressure measurement recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO, 1959).