Hypertension (HTN) is emerging as a public health
problems in various ethnic groups in the developing
countries like India1,2. prevalence of hypertension has
been found to be increasing in epidemic proportions in
urban, rural and tribal population of India3. High blood
pressure (BP) is one of the most important modifiable
risk factors for cardiovascular diseases, which accounts
for one in every eight deaths world wide4. Total deaths
due to cardiovascular diseases were 9.1 million in
developing countries and 1.5 million in India5. It has
been predicted that by 2020, there would be 111 per
cent increase in cardiovascular deaths in India. HTN is
directly responsible for 57 per cent of all stroke deaths
and 24 per cent of all coronary heart diseases (CHD) in
India5.