AbstractBackground: Fast moving lifestyles, unearthly hours at work, addiction to alcohol and unhealthy meals are making more and more Indians fall prey to high blood pressure at a very young age. Hypertension is an ice berg disease. It is estimated that one quarter of all the adults in the world have hypertension. Objective: The objectives of the study was to assess the contributing risk factors and lifestyle modification of hypertensive clients residing in rural and urban area, and to determine their association between level of contributing risk factors and lifestyle modification with selected sample characteristics. Methods: 100 clients with hypertension were selected through purposive sampling technique. In view of the nature of the problem and to accomplish the objectives of the study, structured interview schedule assessment tool was prepared to assess the contributing risk factors and lifestyle modification of hypertensive clients. Validity was ensured in the field of Nursing and medical departments. Reliability of the tools was tested using cronbach alpha, which was 0.89. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used. Results: Out of 100 HTN clients in rural 25 (50%) were in the age group of (45-55years) where as in urban 20 (40%) were in the age group of (35-45 years). Most of them were male i.e. is 44 (88%) in both the areas, education wise rural hypertensive clients 15(30%) were non literate. While among urban hypertensive clients 15 (30%) were literate. Majority of the hypertensive clients were in stage-II, among them, 22 (44%) in rural and 14 (28%) in urban. Most of the hypertensive clients in rural had co-morbidity with chronic kidney disease 24(48%) while 25 (50%) in urban had no co-morbid diseases. Conclusion: Hypertension affects more among males than females. Literacy plays an important role in keeping the clients from getting affected with hypertension. Hence every community health nurses working among the non-literate population must prepare health education handouts using simple legible and understandable language.
Keywords: Drinking; Hypertension; Lifestyle Modifications; Risk Factors; Smoking.