A Study on self-care strategies and related factors among hypertensive patients attending a tertiary care hospital in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Self-care strategies are important in controlling high blood pressure levels and reducing and preventing complications associated with hypertension. Poor adherence to self-care strategies leads to uncontrolled high blood pressure levels and serious complications. This study aimed to assess self-care strategies and associated factors among hypertensive patients attending follow-up clinics at Teaching Hospital Peradeniya, Sri Lanka. A descriptive cross- sectional study was conducted among conveniently selected 338 hypertensive patients who were attending follow-up clinics at Teaching Hospital Peradeniya Sri Lanka from October to November 2023. Data were collected using a pre-tested interviewer-administered questionnaire which consisted of three parts; demographic data, clinical and anthropometric characteristics, and H-SCALE to assess the self-care strategies of hypertensive patients. Medication adherence, adherence to a low-salt diet, physical activity, weight management, non-smoking and alcohol consumption were the six types of self-care strategies assessed in H-SCALE. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 25.0 and p≤0.05 was considered as the level of significance. Out of 338 study participants, 199 (58.9%) were females and 139 (41.1%) were males. The mean BMI of the sample was 24.35±2.73kg/m² The levels of adherence to recommended anti-hypertensive medications, low-salt diet, physical activities, non-smoking, weight management and alcohol consumption were 95%, 29.6%, 13.3%, 92.9%, 98.2% and 100% respectively. According to bi-variate analysis, gender showed a significant association with smoking (p<0.0001) and ethnicity showed a significant association with adhering to a low-salt diet (p=0.005). None of the factors observed in this study were significantly associated with the overall self-care practice of the hypertensive patients. Proper actions should be implemented to improve adherence to low-salt diet and physical activities of hypertensive patients as the levels of adherence to those self-care strategies were very poor according to the findings of this study.