“Survivors of the December 1984 Union Carbide disaster in Bhopal are more prone to developing high blood pressure than unexposed people of the same socio-economic background.”
This was disclosed by members of the Sambhavna Trust Clinic at a press conference here on Sunday. They presented findings of their recent study coinciding with World Health Day.
The study, carried out by community health workers of the clinic covered 195 persons above 30 years of age residing in Rajgarh Colony near the Union Carbide factory and a similar number of those from 100 Quarters near BHEL’s Jamboree Ground.
The study showed that 31 per cent women were hypertensive in comparison with 23 per cent men in the gas exposed population.
According to World Health Organisation’s “Global Health Statistics 2012”, 23.10 per cent men and 22.60 per cent women over 25 years suffer from hypertension. According to WHO, more men are hypertensive than women (in the unexposed population).
The Sambhavna Trust Clinic findings show that 82 per cent people, in both exposed and unexposed communities, were not aware that they were hypertensive. This requires special attention since hypertension, if untreated, can lead to heart attack, stroke, and kidney failure.
Another health risk identified by the study is prevalence of obesity, particularly among the gas-affected women of whom 44 per cent were found to be overweight or obese and 68 per cent of these women were hypertensive.
Dr Mohammad Ali Qaisar, one of the physicians working at the Sambhavna Clinic, said that many scientific studies have shown that exposure to pesticide and other toxic chemicals causes hardening and narrowing of blood vessels. In medical sphere, this is called atherosclerosis and is the main cause of high blood pressure in the exposed individuals.