Obesity and Hypertension Pattern among Selected Group of Employed and Non-Employed Adults in Kandy District, Sri Lanka

Non communicable diseases (NCDs) are the leading causes of deaths globally, killing people in each year than all other causes combined. Aim of this study was to determine the pattern obesity and hypertension among selected group of employed and non-employed adults, in Kandy District, Sri Lanka. The data were collected from employed (n=350) and unemployed (n=550) who attended health promotion programmes in the district of Kandy, Sri Lanka. Height and weight were measured. BMI was calculated. Blood pressure (BP) was measured. Among the employed adults, there were 247 females (70.6%) while 385 females (75.5%) were among the unemployed adults. mean age of employed and unemployed were 38.5 ±10.4 and 42.6 ±11.6 respectively. Mean BMI of employed was 23.6 Kgm-2 ±4.12 whereas the mean BMI of unemployed group was 24.6 Kgm-2 ±4.64. It was found that 12.8% of employed were obese while 19.2% unemployed were obese. Study revealed that 19.4% of employed were hypertensive while 19.6 % of unemployed were hypertensive.