Adherence to a Health Literacy and Healthy Lifestyle with Improved Blood Pressure Control in Iran

INTRODUCTION AND AIM: High blood pressure is the leading and most important modifiable risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Health literacy and lifestyle are two paramount key factors behind better control of hypertension. This study was conducted to examine the current situation of health literacy and health-promoting lifestyle and its association with blood pressure control among people affected by hypertension in the population over age 30 of Northwest Iran. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study conducted in October and December 2018 on the over 30-year-old population among subjects suffering from hypertension (n= 210). A self-reported questionnaire was used for assessing health literacy dimensions and lifestyle. RESULTS: In hierarchical linear analysis, the HL explained 33.9% of the variance in healthy lifestyle. Among HL dimensions, the ability to access health information and decision-making were significantly associated with healthy lifestyle. The health literacy dimensions contributed to an additional significant increase in 4.7% of the variance explained in hypertension, furthermore, the health-promoting lifestyle items were explained an additional 14.8% of the hypertension variance. In total, lifestyle and health literacy dimensions were able to explain 21.7% of the variance in hypertension. CONCLUSION: Our study encourages efforts to monitor health literacy in people with hypertension and investigate associations with involvement with health-promoting lifestyle.