Knowledge, Attitude and Self-Care Practice towards Control of Hypertension among Hypertensive Patients on Follow-up at St. Paul's Hospital, Addis Ababa

BACKGROUND: Hypertension is the number one cardiovascular risk factor and the leading cause of mortality worldwide. It's the driver of the cardiovascular disease epidemic in Africa where it is a major, independent risk factor for heart failure, stroke and renal failure. There is no study to assess the level of knowledge of hypertension among hypertensive patients in our setup. The objective of this study was to assess knowledge, attitude and selfcare practice towards control of hypertension among hypertensive patients on follow up at our hospital. METHODS: A total of 385 hypertensive patients who were on follow up at our hospital were randomly selected for interview. The Sociodemographic and relevant clinical data were extracted using a structured questionnaire. Operational definitions and Likert scale was used to compare the variables. RESULTS: Only 48.6% of hypertensive patients participated in this study have good basic knowledge of hypertension, 47.8% of them have good attitude and only 39.5% of the study participants have good practice towards control of hypertension. Male sex, formal education and being urban resident are associated with better knowledge, attitude and self-care practice of hypertensive patients at our hospital. CONCLUSION: The result states that there is an inadequate knowledge about hypertension; as well attitude and self-care practice towards control of hypertension among our hypertensive patients is generally poor. Responsible bodies should focus on addressing such limitations of hypertensive patients. Attention should be given to hypertensive patients who are females, low educational level and those coming from rural.