Indian Heart Study (IHS) has found that Indians have an average resting heart rate of 80 beats per minute which is higher than the desired rate of 72 beats per minute. 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 get the idea about the timing of prescribing anti-hypertension drug dosage.



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



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 percent on first visit to a doctor's clinic. 



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.



Dr. Kumar said, there is a close link between high blood pressure and cardiovascular diseases, which are on the rise in our country. He stressed that Indians need to take right measures to cut down the risks by monitoring their blood pressure. Nephrologist, Dr. Lalit Kumar Agarwal said that kidneys are at a high risk of damage in people with high blood pressure or hypertension.