title: Population-specific left ventricular hypertrophy in three groups from the northeastern region of India.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  People living in the hills are continuously exposed to strenuous physical activity for their day-to-day work. Besides hypertension, left ventricular hypertrophy in different populations may be related to continuous physical activity.
  
  
  METHODS
  Electrocardiogram, blood pressure and sociodemographic information of 12 252 subjects > or = 30 years of age from three different population groups living in Mizoram (hilly) and Assam (plain) were recorded. Of them, 8058 were from Mizoram and 3180 and 1014 were Indigenous Assamese and tea garden workers of Assam.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Among the subjects from Mizoram the percentage of smokers (41.9%), mean (SD) BMI (21.9 [3.8]) and waist-hip ratio (0.87 [0.02]) were significantly higher than in those from other groups. Tea garden workers had a higher mean systolic blood pressure (145.2 [25.7]) and diastolic blood pressure (87.6 [13.6]). The prevalence of left ventricular hypertrophy was highest among tea garden workers (16.5%) followed by people from Mizoram (3.7%) and the indigenous Assamese (2%) people. In spite of a significantly higher prevalence of hypertension among the indigenous Assamese community than among those from Mizoram, left ventricular hypertrophy was found to be lower in the former.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  High prevalence of left ventricular hypertrophy among tea garden workers was possibly related to a higher prevalence of hypertension but the higher prevalence of left ventricular hypertrophy among people from Mizoram might be related to more physical activity.
authors.affiliation: Regional Medical Research Centre, NE Region (ICMR), Post Box 105, Dibrugarh 786001, Assam, India.
authors.forename: P K
authors.initials: PK
authors.lastname: Borah
authors.forename: N C
authors.initials: NC
authors.lastname: Hazarika
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Biswas
authors.forename: H C
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Kalita
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mahanta
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000383:Agriculture; D000531:Altitude; D001795:Blood Pressure Determination; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D004562:Electrocardiography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D017379:Hypertrophy, Left Ventricular / Q000453:epidemiology*; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012307:Risk Factors; D012424:Rural Population; D014505:Urban Population