title: Knowledge, Awareness and Self-Care Practices of Hypertension Among Cardiac Hypertensive Patients.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The most prevalent form of hypertension is systolic blood pressure (SBP) and it is considered to be predisposing risk factor for cardiovascular disease. The objective of the study was to assess self-care practices, knowledge and awareness of hypertension, especially related to SBP among cardiac hypertensive patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  A Cross sectional study was conducted on 664 cardiac hypertensive patients, which were selected by non-probability convenience sampling from cardiology outpatient department of three tertiary care hospitals. Face to face interviews were conducted using a pre designed questionnaire. Data was entered and analyzed by SPSS (V17).
  
  
  RESULTS
  81.8%, did not know that hypertension is defined as high blood pressure. 97.1% of the sample population did not know that top measurement of blood pressure was referred to as systolic and only 25.0% correctly recognized normal systolic blood pressure to be less than 140 mmHg. 7.4% of the patients consulted their doctor for hypertension once or twice in a month. Risk factor for high blood pressure most commonly identified by the participants was too much salt intake
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results state that there is an inadequate general knowledge of hypertension among cardiac patients and they do not recognise the significance of elevated SBP levels. There is a need to initiate programs that create community awareness regarding long term complications of uncontrolled hypertension, particularly elevated SBP levels so that there is an improvement in self-care practices of the cardiac patients.
authors.affiliation: Dow University Of Health Sciences, Karachi, Pakistan. bilalmemon_744@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Muhammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bilal
authors.forename: Abdul
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Haseeb
authors.forename: Sehan Siraj
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Lashkerwala
authors.forename: Ibrahim
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Zahid
authors.forename: Khadijah
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Siddiq
authors.forename: Muhammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Saad
authors.forename: Mudassir Iqbal
authors.initials: MI
authors.lastname: Dar
authors.forename: Mohammad Hussham
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Arshad
authors.forename: Waqas
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Shahnawaz
authors.forename: Bilal
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ahmed
authors.forename: Aimen
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Yaqub
mesh_terms: D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000150:complications*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy*; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012307:Risk Factors; D012648:Self Care; D013599:Systole