THE PREVALENCE OF ORTHOSTATIC HYPOTENSION AMONG BUS CONDUCTORS- A HOSPITAL BASED OBSERVATIONAL STUDY

Dr. Swarnalatha MD. and Dr. A. Dinesh*

ABSTRACT

The Prevalence of Orthostatic Hypotension among Bus Conductors- a Hospital Based Observational Study. Introduction: Orthostatic hypotension is defined as fall in systolic blood pressure of at least 20mmHg or diastolic blood pressure of at least 10 mm Hg within three minutes of standing. Aim: To find out the prevalence of orthostatic hypotension among bus conductors. Objectives: 1. To document the occurrence of orthostatic hypotension among bus conductors. 2. To identify the key predisposing factors for the association. Study design and setting: This is a cross sectional study conducted at Dispensary Hospital, Head office of Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation, Villupuram. The participants were bus conductors between age group of 30 to 40. Sampling: 40 individuals were considered. They were selected using a systemic random sampling procedure. Procedure: The patient’s blood pressure is measured after 5-10 minutes of rest in supine position. The patient arises and the measurements are then repeated while he stands motionless for 3-5 minutes with the cuffed arm supported at heart level. Result: The statistics were done with student spss software. The study had a significance of 22% (p 0.004) individuals with orthostatic hypotension whose duration of years of service had an average of above 17 years with a age group of above 38( p 0.000). Logistic regression for Age is 0.019 and for Duration of years of service 0.005. Conclusion: The study is an attempt to investigate the prevelance of orthostatic hypotension in bus conductors irrespective of their duration of service, whose profession demands long standing and autonomic stability. Pharmacological treatment is less successful for orthostatic hypotension than non-pharmacological measures. Relevance: Our study aims at unraveling sub clinical autonomic dysfunction in bus conductors, so that early non-pharmacological interventions can be advocated.

Keywords: Orthostatic hypotension, occupational hazard.