Indians have higher blood pressure in the evenings than in mornings: IHS

Agencies
August 27, 2019

Kolkata, Aug 27: Indians have an average resting heart rate of 80 beats per minute which is higher than the desired rate of 72, Indian Heart Study (IHS) has found.

The IHS also highlighted that unlike people of other countries, Indians have higher blood pressure in the evenings than in mornings.

The study was conducted on 18,918 participants, both men and women, across 355 cities in 15 states over a period of nine months from April 2018.

It was carried out by 19 doctors to rethink about the timing of prescribing anti-hypertension drug dosage.

"The study has provided us with insights on the prevalence of white-coat hypertension, masked hypertension, and resting heart rates pertinent to Indian population," said Prof Dr Soumitra Kumar, Head of the Department of Cardiology of city-based Vivekananda Institute of Medical Sciences and Ramakrishna Mission Seva Pratishthan and a co-ordinator for IHS.

Masked-hypertension is a phenomenon when an individual's blood pressure reading is normal at the doctor's clinic but high at home, while white-coat hypertension is a condition in which people exhibit a blood pressure level above the normal range in a clinical setting only.

The IHS findings highlight a high prevalence of masked hypertension and white-coat hypertension in Indians at 42 per cent on the first visit to a doctor's clinic.

In West Bengal, 22.50 per cent of the respondents were white-coat hypertensive, while 17.30 per cent were found to have masked hypertension.

White-coat hypertensives, who are misdiagnosed and put on anti-hypertension drugs have to take unnecessary medication while a masked hypertensive may go undiagnosed running the risk of complications of the heart, the kidneys, and the brain, leading to premature mortality, the study said.

"There is a close link between high blood pressure and cardiovascular diseases, which are on the rise in our country. We need to take right measures to cut down on the risks by monitoring our blood pressure," Dr Kumar said.

Dr Lalit Kumar Agarwal, a nephrologist at a private hospital here said, kidneys are at a high risk of damage in people with high blood pressure or hypertension.

The study was conducted on "drug-naive" set of participants -- people not on any anti-hypertension drug -- using a comprehensive process of taking blood pressure readings.

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News Network
May 4,2020

Bengaluru, May 4: Former Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy on Sunday said that the health of the migrants who have been allowed to move, should not be jeopardized and appropriate tests must be conducted.

"The task was to send the workers to their places. However, their health should not be jeopardized. This decision made for their benefit should not be a travesty for them. There will also be physical interference on the buses and appropriate tests must be done," said Kumaraswamy.

"The lockdown, which was implemented without any prerequisites, is now loosened without warning. The state government, which has allowed migrant workers to move to the city, has mobilized large numbers of people. By this, the government is playing with their health," he added.

He continued saying that the government should not lose out on an unscientific move that resulted in the loss of thousands of crores of rupees from a custodial lockdown.

"Workers and villages must be sober. The government must take all necessary precautions in this regard," he added.

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News Network
June 22,2020

Bengaluru, Jun 22: The opening of Schools in the state, is unlikely before Dasara festival, as a majority of the parents are averse to send their children due to the COVID-19 scare.

According to official sources, in the State education department, a majority of parents, who were asked to give their opinion on re-opening of schools in the state, have reportedly favoured continuing the closing of schools till September.

The primary and Secondary education department had received feedback from various stakeholders including educational institutions, parents and Teachers, clocking high towards not opening the schools for the 2020-21 academic year till Dasara days.

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News Network
February 21,2020

Thiruvananthapuram, Feb 21: A school in the city has allegedly denied admission to a boy whose parents did not fill the religion column in the application form, prompting the Kerala education department to seek a report.

The parents, Naseem and Dhayna, had sought admission for their son to the first standard at the St Mary's school, a government-aided institution. They alleged that school authorities had claimed that registration will not be possible on the education department's 'Sampoorna' portal without filling the 'religion' column.

"We were informed by the school authorities that it was not possible to give admission to our child as we wrote 'nil' in the religion column. They claimed that if nil is mentioned, the admission process will not get registered in the school management software of the education department," Naseem said.

Sampoorna is a school management system project implemented by the Kerala education department to automate the system and process of over 15,000 schools in the state.

The parents later approached the ministry and the Directorate of Public Instruction (DPI) to get further clarification.

"The state government officials denied that there were any issues with the software and confirmed to us that the admission process was going on.

When we approached the school authorities again, they asked us to give in writing that we, the parents will take responsibility of any issues that may occur in the future," Naseem said.

The parents then decided not to enroll their son at the school due to the manner in which the issue was handled by the institution. Reacting swiftly, the state government sought a report from the DPI and the deputy director of the education department on the matter.

"We have asked the DPI and the deputy director of the education department to look into the matter and file a report as soon as possible," Education minister C Raveendranath told PTI. The parents said after the news spread, a school official called them offering admission.

"But we decided not to enroll him there due to the approach of the school authorities," he said.

Naseem runs a catering business after returning from the Gulf.

The school management in a release claimed that they sought a letter in writing from the parents to avoid trouble in the future. "When school authorities asked why the religion column was left blank, the parents said they were not interested in filling that part. The parents have that right.

But most benefits given by the government to school children are based on religion. We just wanted to ensure that the parents take the responsibility in case the student misses out any such benefits in the future," the management said.

School authorities maintained they never denied admission to any student. The parents are now looking for admission for their son in other schools in Thiruvanathapuram.

Ravindranath recently claimed in the state Assembly that over one lakh children in Kerala had left columns relating to caste and religion blank in school admission records during the 2017-18 academic year. In a written reply, he said as many as 1,24,147 children had not filled these columns while enrolling in different classes in government and government-aided schools during the period.

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