Comparative Study on Lipid Profile of Hypertensive Patients and Non-hypertensive Individuals in Bikaner, Rajasthan, India

Abstract

Cardiovascular diseases are the highest cause of death in the industrialized world, and many of these deaths may be work related. Hypertension is the most common of the cardio-vascular diseases which is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the industrial world. Stress, tension, smoking, liquors, insufficient rest, metabolic disorders, excessive consumption of tea or coffee, emotional disturbance etc. are also associated with high blood pressure. Several previous studies showed the relation between hyperlipidemia and hypertension. An excessive daily intake of saturated fats, cholesterol, and other sources of calories and subsequent disturbance of lipid profile leading to hypertriglyceridemia and hypercholesterolemia are associated with obesity and, consequently, hypertension. The present study was designed to compare the serum triglyceride, cholesterol, High Density Lipo-protein (HDL) and Low Density Lipo-protein (LDL levels in hypertensive and non-hypertensive individuals. While the relation between hyperlipidemia and hypertension is clearly shown, there are only a few studies which have compared the lipid profiles of hypertensive and non-hypertensive cases.  The aim and objectives of the present case-control study were to find out the relationship between serum lipids levels of the hypertensive patients with controls in Bikaner, Rajasthan, India. This study was conducted in the Department of Physiology, Sardar Patel Medical College, Bikaner and Department of General Medicine, Kothari Medical and Research Institute, Bikaner. Patients were selected randomly from the city, and the selected subjects were divided into two groups each comprising of 50 patients. Group I: untreated hypertension and served as study group; Group II: normotensive persons having normal Systolic Blood Pressure (SBP) and Diastolic Blood Pressure (BP)    and served as a control group. Patients included in both the groups were assessed for lipid profile. Overall, it could be concluded that the serum lipid profile of recently diagnosed untreated hypertensive patient was deranged specially in a middle age group (the study group) as compared to healthy subjects. Based on the results obtained from the present study, it could be further envisaged that serum cholesterol; triglyceride levels are positively correlated with hypertensive patients whereas HDL-cholesterol has no significant changes with hypertension.