Health awareness and treatment compliance of high blood pressure among women in a peri-urban colony of Chandigarh, India.
Health awareness is a central issue in the control of hypertension. In a cross-sectional survey among 1727 women of > 30 years, 2 blood pressure recordings were done in 1686 cases. The prevalence of hypertension was found to be 13.1% (221 out of 1686 cases). A random sub sample of 72 hypertensive women above 30 years of age from a peri-urban colony of Chandigarh was selected to find out health awareness and treatment compliance of hypertension. Sixty-three (87.5%) of the selected women were aware of their high blood pressure. However, only 12 women (16.7%) who were on treatment had achieved control of blood pressure (< 140/90 mm Hg). Main reasons for discontinuing the treatment were ignorance about the need of regular treatment (33.3%), high cost of medicines (19.44%) and non-availability of a family member who can go with the patient to hospital (9.72%). Twenty-six (36.1%) hypertensive women did not know the importance of weight reduction for controlling high blood pressure. Twenty-three (31.9%) hypertensive women were currently smoking. A comprehensive health education approach involving health care professionals, patients and general population should be launched to improve the care of hypertensives in the community.
Thakur
K
K
Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh.
Malhotra
P
P
Walia
I
I
Kumar
R
R
D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006293:Health Promotion; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy*; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D008019:Life Style; D010349:Patient Compliance; D015995:Prevalence; D012737:Sex Factors; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology