Attitude and self-care practice on hypertension among antihypertensive medication users in a tertiary care hospital Nepal

BACKGROUND: Hypertension a “silent killer” is a serious global health problem, whose prevalence is increasing in Nepal. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to determine the attitude and practice of hypertension among anti-hypertensive medication users in a tertiary care teaching hospital in western Nepal. METHODOLOGY: A hospital-based cross-sectional study design was used among 136 hypertensive patients under medication, aged ⩾ 30 years, and visiting medical outpatient department, medical ward, and geriatric ward, using a non-probability convenience sampling technique. Semi-structured questionnaires were used for data collection through interviews. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used, and a p value < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. RESULTS: Most of the patients were male (56.6%), mean ± standard deviation age was 56.74 ± 12.58. Majority of them were Hindu (69.9%), upper caste people (29.4%), illiterate (22.1%), and house maker (27.2%). Half of the patients (50.7%) had a positive attitude and more than half (52.2%) had performed adequate self-care practice. Selected variables such as educational status and dietary pattern and attitude were significantly associated, whereas no association was found between sociodemographic variables and self-care practice. Attitude and self-care practices were found strongly associated with one another (p = 0.002). CONCLUSION: Our study found that half of the study population had positive attitude, and more than half of them had performed adequate self-care practice. Hence, educational interventions and awareness programs on dietary aspects should be focused for improving the attitude and practice of all the patient groups.