51% of IT employees in Hyderabad have high blood pressure

Hyderabad-based Aayuv Technologies Pvt. Ltd., the company behind eKincare (Voted as one of the hottest 100 tech start-ups by The Exhibit), a digital health platform that enables users to track their health, reveals that Hyderabad IT employees exhibit major risk for cardiovascular diseases.

eKincare has conducted health checkups at more than 30 IT corporates in Hyderabad in the past few months. A sample of about 6000 employees aged between 25 and 55 years registered on eKincare platform from these corporates were considered for this study comprising 4500 men and 1500 women from IT industry.

The analysis is based on the results from health checkup covering blood pressure, blood sugar & BMI readings of the individual as well as their responses to life style questions on the platform covering smoking, alcohol, level of physical activity.

• Hypertension is the biggest risk factor!

Of the total employees, 51% (3060) of them have high blood pressure, which is the biggest risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Out of these 3060 employees, 720 of the employees were already hypertensive while remaining is in pre-hypertensive stage.

A WHO study says that globally, cardiovascular disease accounts for approximately one third of the total deaths. Out of this, a complication of hypertension is responsible for at least 45% of deaths.

“Hypertension is a silent killer, a major population though hypertensive, show no signs and are unaware of the condition, meaning they are not taking any medication to control Blood Pressure”, says Dr. Unnikrishnan, MD, BS (Medical Science’s), GRAMIT, Clinical Advisor at eKincare.

• Obesity is a major concern among the employees!

Of the total employees, 47% (2760) weigh more than ideal range. 38% of the employees are overweight while 9% (540) of employees are obese.

• Lifestyle factors adding up to the risk!

1. Smoking is a major lifestyle risk among men employees with 18% (810) of them reporting they smoke.

“Smoking has shown to have linkage to stroke risk and multiplediseases including rheumatoid arthritis” according to separate researches published by American Heart Association and Karolinska Institute, Sweden.

2. Lack of physical activity is major lifestyle risk among women employees. 27% (405) of women answered “never” as response to level of physical activity.

The eKincare health index considers all the major risk indicators to score the health of an individual on a scale of 100. While average health index of users registered on eKincare is 72, the corresponding number for IT employees is 68 suggesting they are at higher risk.

“Lifestyle habits like smoking and sedentary lifestyle along with increased levels of stress among IT employees has caused the rise of Blood Pressure, hence it is recommended the individuals undergo basic health check-ups for early detection of the risk associated thus aiding them take necessary steps for a healthy life” says Dr. Unnikrishnan, MD, BS (Medical Science’s), GRAMIT, Clinical Advisor at eKincare.

In an effort to encourage people to take control of and be better informed about their health, eKincare offers a free platform where one can upload their medical records & track their vitals. The platform is free for the user with no limits on the data & provides free digitization of the records. eKincare is leveraging analytics, partnerships with pioneers in Indian healthcare to bring an intelligent and comprehensive approach to preventive medicine. eKincare works with some of the leading corporates in designing data driven programs to help improve employees wellness.

“It’s high time we use technology and become smarter in the way we manage our health. eKincare platform is very much user friendly, I use it to store & track my entire family’s medical records” says Kareem Khan, eKincare user.

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