[Impact of knowledge and practices of hygieno-dietetical measures in hypertensive people at the Abidjan cardiology institute].

BACKGROUND

Non-drug management of high blood pressure includes hygiene and dietary measures, the good knowledge and practice of which contribute to the control of hypertension with the reduction of complications.

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the impact of knowledge and practice of hygiene and dietary measures in the management of hypertension.

METHOD: This was a single-center, cross-sectional and analytical study of hypertensive patients followed in outpatient consultations at the Abidjan Institute of Cardiology from January 1 to October 31, 2022. The data studied were sociodemographic, clinical, therapeutic, lifestyle habits and complications.

RESULTS

301 patients were included, mostly women (sex ratio: 0.9) with a mean age of 61.0±10.4 years. The majority of patients were on dual therapy (72.8%), followed by monotherapy (19.6%). The low-sodium diet (98.3%), fat reduction (89.4%), smoking cessation (87.4%), weight control (86%) and alcohol reduction (70.4%) were the hygiene-dietetic measures known by the patients. The level of the knowledge score did not seem to impact on the occurrence of complications (P=0.18) and the control of high blood pressure (P=0.5) and did not depend on gender (P=0.50). The low-sodium diet was the most practiced (84.4%). The practice of MHD was protective of the occurrence of complications [OR=0.50; 95% CI (0.30-0.80); P=0.005] and significantly impacted on the control of blood pressure (P=0.03).

CONCLUSION

The patients had a good knowledge of the hygiene-dietetic measures and mostly practiced the low-sodium diet.