Objective To study the effect of continuous nursing on health behaviors of elder patients with hypertension,so as to provide theoretical basis for clinical use.Methods Experimental study was used in this paper.A total of 200 elder patients with hypertension were randomly divided into the intervention group and the control group according to a random number table method,each with 100 cases.The intervention group received continuous nursing while the control group received routine health education.Health promotion lifestyle profile-Ⅱ (HPLPII) was used to measure patients' health behaviors in the 2nd,8th and 12th week after discharge,and Nijmegen continuity questionnaire (NCQ) was used to investigate patients' evaluation of continuous nursing on the 12th week after discharge.Results The medium level of health behaviors of elder patients with hypertension was (131.04 ± 16.15).Total score and every dimension of health behaviors were not significantly different between two groups (P > 0.05).On the 2nd week after discharge,differences of total score and dimensions including nutrition,personal relationship,pressure management and health responsibility were statistically significant (x2 =6.382,7.567,15.400,8.348,9.346,respectively; P < 0.05),and differences of dimensions including exercise and self-realization were not statistically significant (x2 =0.161,5.269,respectively; P>0.05).On the 8th week after discharge,differences of total score and dimensions including nutrition,personal relationship,pressure management,health responsibility and self-realization were statistically significant (x2 =10.972,13.851,18.772,19.853,10.450,25.743,respectively; P < O.05),and difference of exercise was not statistically significant (x2 =3.531,P > 0.05).On the 12th week after discharge,differences of total score and all dimensions were statistically significant (x2 =13.724,18.681,23.741,28.433,21.184,25.193,33.643,respectively; P <0.05).The total score of continuous nursing evaluation,score of nurses' knowledge of patients as well as nurses' responsibility in NCQ were (34.23 ±t 10.35),(15.13±5.73),(8.83 ±3.47) in the intervention group,obviously higher than those in the control group (32.80 ± 7.27),(14.64 ±4.00),(8.62 ± 2.14),and the differences were statistically significant (t =-0.794,-0.488,-0.368,respectively; P<0.01).There was no statistically significant difference between two groups in the score of nurses' cooperation in NCQ (P > 0.05).Conclusions Continuous nursing can improve health behaviors of elder patients with hypertension as well as patients' evaluation. Key words: Elder; Hypertension; Health behavior; Continuous nursing