Knowledge, attitudes, belief and practices in elderly hypertensive patients and hypertensive patients complicated with diabetes

Abstract

Objective To compare the knowledge, attitudes, belief and practices (KABP) in elderly patients and patients complicated with diabetes mellitus (DM) in communities of Shanghai. Methods A cross-sectional study with simple random sampling was undertaken in 5 communities of Shanghai Xuhui District during May 2011 to July 2011. The target population were 47 572 patients incorporated into standardized management of hypertension. Total 3800 questionaires containing the basic information of patiens and their knowledge, attitudes, belief and practices on were distributed and 3328 were retrieved with a response rate of 87.6%. The survey results of elderly (≥65 y) patients and patients with DM were analysed and compared. Results Total 1057 elderly patients aged (76.1±6.4)y had simple and 42.5%(449/1057)were males; while 360 elderly patients aged (75.9±6.4) y were complicated with DM and 41.7% (150/360) were males. The rates of awareness of hypertension is a chronic disease (99.4% vs. 96.5%, χ2=8.659, P=0.003) and hypertensive patients should persist in taking long-term medications (98.9% vs. 95.4%, χ2=8.898, P=0.003) was higher in patients with complicated DM than those in simple patients. Most of them received education on hypertension-related knowledge from community out-patient clinics, while the percentage of this resource was higher in patients with and DM (75.9% vs. 65.6%, χ2=12.913, P<0.05). There was no statistical difference in controlling dietary salt intake between two groups (88.3% vs. 88.8%, P=0.799). Patients with and DM had shorter excise time than patients with simple [(49±30)min vs. (53±31)min, t=3.362, P=0.001], they were more likely to visit clinics(12.0% vs. 6.3%, χ2 =12.144, P<0.05)and more frequently to seeking hypertension-related medical help from tertiary hospitals(20.2% vs. 13.8%, χ2=7.832, P=0.005). The control rate of in patients complicated with DM was significantly lower than that in simple patients (15.3% vs. 79.2%, χ2=470.264, P<0.05). Conclusions Community out-patient clinic is the main source of knowledge on for elderly patients; so general practitioners should carry out individulized health education for blood pressure control, especially for those complicated with diabetes. Key words: Hypertension; Diabetes mellitus; Health education; Aged