Urban residence was a significant predictor of good hypertension awareness, with urban patients having 4.48 times higher odds of good awareness compared to rural patients.
Cross-Sectional (n=384)
No
What are the levels of awareness, medication adherence, and dietary patterns among hypertensive patients in western Rajasthan, India?
Forgetfulness and poor knowledge are the primary reasons for nonadherence to antihypertensive medications in this Indian cohort, emphasizing the need for targeted patient education.
Effect estimate: OR 4.48 (95% CI 1.79-11.22)
p-value: p=0.001
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Hypertension is an important disease of public health concern. Awareness and medication adherence with diet modification have an important effect on the control of blood pressure and its associated morbidity and mortality. Therefore, this study was conducted to assess the awareness of hypertension, medication adherence, and dietary pattern in hypertensive population of western Rajasthan. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study was hospital based cross-sectional. Blood pressure measurements were taken in a sitting position in right arm after a 5-min rest using nonmercury sphygmomanometer and required cuff size. A prevalidated and pretested questionnaire for the assessment of awareness of hypertension was used. RESULTS: Out of the total 384 patients, the majority of the patients were males (62.5%). There was a statistically significant difference found in awareness of hypertension among rural and urban patients. Nonadherence to antihypertensive medications was seen more in males (60.0%) as compared to females (40.0%). The most common reason for nonadherence was found to be forgetfulness (27.6%) followed by poor knowledge about the hypertension and ignorance of long-term treatment (22.9%). Out of the total hypertensive patient studied, 54.9% were taking normal salt intake and 45.1% of the subjects were found to be taking excess intake of salt. INTERPRETATION AND CONCLUSIONS: In the present study, good awareness about hypertension was found with urban patients. Among all the variables, education and employment status showed a positive and significant association with awareness. The most common reason of poor adherence was found to be forgetfulness behavior followed by poor knowledge and lack of awareness about hypertension.
Deora et al. (Wed,) conducted a cross-sectional in Hypertension (n=384). Urban residence vs. Rural residence was evaluated on Good awareness of hypertension (OR 4.48, 95% CI 1.79-11.22, p=0.001). Urban residence was a significant predictor of good hypertension awareness, with urban patients having 4.48 times higher odds of good awareness compared to rural patients.