Self-Care Behaviors and Related Factors in Hypertensive Patients.
BACKGROUND
An assessment of an individual's hypertension self-care behavior may provide clinicians and practitioners with important information regarding how to better control hypertension.


OBJECTIVE
The objective of this study was to investigate the self-care behaviors of hypertensive patients.


METHODS
This cross-sectional study was conducted in 2014 in a sample of 1836 patients of both genders who had been diagnosed with hypertension in urban and rural health centers in the Kohgiluyeh Boyerahmad Province in southern Iran. They were randomly selected and were invited to participate in the study. Self-care activities were measured using the H-hypertension self-care activity level effects.


RESULTS
The mean age of the respondents was 63 (range: 30 - 92), and 36.1% reported adherence to the recommended levels of medication; 24.5% followed the physical activity level guidelines. Less than half (39.2%) met the criteria for practices related to weight management, and adherence to low-salt diet recommendations was also low (12.3%). Overall, 86.7% were nonsmokers, and 100% abstained from alcohol. The results of a logistic regression indicated that gender was significantly associated with adherence to physical activity (OR = 0.716) and non-smoking (OR = 1.503) recommendations; that is, women were more likely to take part in physical activity than men. There was also a significant association between age and adherence to both a low-salt diet (OR = 1.497) and medication (OR = 1.435).


CONCLUSIONS
Based on our findings, it is crucial to implement well-designed educational programs to improve hypertension self-care behaviors.
Social Determinants of Health Research Center, Yasuj University of Medical Sciences, Yasuj, IR Iran.
Sayed Fazel
SF
Zinat Motlagh
Department of Community Medicine, School of Medicine, Yasuj University of Medical Sciences, Yasuj, IR Iran.
Reza
R
Chaman
Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah, IR Iran.
Erfan
E
Sadeghi
Department of Health Education and Promotion, School of Health, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, IR Iran.
Ahmad Ali
AA
Eslami
Behavior; Hypertension; Patient; Self-Care