Published May 17, 2026 | 9:43 AM ⚊ Updated May 17, 2026 | 9:43 AM
Hypertension. Representative image. (iStock)
Synopsis: A large nationwide survey has found that nearly one in three Indian adults is hypertensive. Among the population, South Indian women are carrying a hypertension burden that is heavier than that of most of the country, and in one territory, they have overtaken men entirely.
Every 17 May, World Hypertension Day arrives as a global reminder of a condition so prevalent it has earned the grim nickname “the silent killer”.
And, the recent study from India comes with sharper data.
A large nationwide survey, the BEAT-HTN India study, has found that nearly one in three Indian adults is hypertensive. But inside its findings lies a story that deserves its own spotlight: South Indian women are carrying a hypertension burden that is heavier than most of the country, and in one territory, they have overtaken men entirely.
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Puducherry stands apart from every other region in India. It is the only place in the entire survey where women recorded a higher hypertension prevalence than men, at 60 percent compared to 40 percent among men. That is not a marginal difference. It is a complete reversal of the national pattern.
Andhra Pradesh follows closely. Women in the state recorded a hypertension prevalence of 34 percent, the highest among all southern states and the second highest among women across the country after Puducherry.
Tamil Nadu recorded 33 percent among women, matching Chhattisgarh and sitting well above the national female average.
Kerala, often held up as India’s health model, recorded 30 percent among women. Goa, also in the western coastal belt, matched that figure.
Karnataka and Telangana both recorded 27 percent among women, which, while lower than their southern counterparts, still represents a significant burden in absolute terms, given the size of their populations.
Taken together, the southern states present a picture of female hypertension that is not uniform but is consistently concerning.
The BEAT-HTN India survey, conducted under the “BP Right Karo” campaign between October 2023 and October 2024, enrolled 41,370 adults across 31 regions spanning 28 states and three Union Territories.
The overall hypertension prevalence was 29.8 percent.
Men recorded a higher rate nationally at 33.2 percent, compared to 27.2 percent among women. But that national average masks enormous regional variation. The northern region led with a prevalence of 80.2 percent, followed by the West at 79.6 percent, the South at 74.9 percent and the East at 70.4 percent.
At the state level, the gender gaps in the north were dramatic. Chandigarh recorded 76 percent among men versus just 23 percent among women. Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand and Haryana reported some of the highest male hypertension burdens in the country.
The south, by contrast, showed far narrower gender gaps, and in Puducherry, the gap flipped altogether.
The survey found that nearly 48.4 percent of participants with hypertension also had diabetes. This group showed significantly higher resting heart rates compared to non-diabetic participants, pointing to what researchers described as a broader cardiometabolic problem involving obesity, insulin resistance and sympathetic nervous system overactivity.
The mean resting heart rate across the entire cohort was 83.9 beats per minute, already above the threshold of 80 bpm that international guidelines flag as a marker of elevated cardiovascular risk.
Diabetic hypertensives recorded a mean heart rate of 85.86 bpm, meaningfully higher than the 82.15 bpm recorded among those without diabetes. The difference was statistically significant.
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The researchers did not mince words in their conclusions.
“The findings of this large-scale, nationwide survey highlight that nearly one in three Indian adults has hypertension, reinforcing the urgent need for clinicians to actively screen beyond traditional high-risk groups, especially in urbanising regions,” they wrote.
They also pointed to the rising overlap of conditions as a defining challenge. “The coexistence of hypertension and diabetes across all demographic groups further signals India’s epidemiological shift toward multimorbidity,” the authors noted, adding that care models must move away from treating conditions in isolation toward integrated cardiometabolic management.
On the role of obesity, which was not directly measured in the survey, the authors were clear about its shadow over the findings. “Although direct anthropometric measurements were not captured, the strong coexistence of diabetes, elevated resting heart rate, and age-related trends strongly suggests obesity as a unifying driver of cardiometabolic risk,” they wrote.
The authors called for a paradigm shift, from a blood pressure-centric model to a more holistic, integrated approach that addresses obesity, insulin resistance and autonomic dysfunction together.
(Edited by Muhammed Fazil.)
