Evaluation of hypertension related knowledge, attitudes and practices at community level in Kabul 

Abstract

Background: Evaluation of knowledge, attitudes, and practices plays key role in hypertension control. Since little data is available from Kabul, Afghanistan, hence this study was planned to generate scientific data about it. Methods:A cross-sectional, descriptive, questionnaire based survey was designed to cover the study participants from general public of Kabul City. A 30 item pretested questionnaire was served to collect the data.Results: A total of 201 out of 384 adult individuals of either gender volunteered to participate in the survey of which > 61% were women. Out of all interviewed individuals 33 had the history of hypertension of which 24 (72.2%) of them were women. Significant association (p=0.036) was observed between gender and high blood pressure. The majority of hypertensive respondents were aged >45 years, where significance (p=0.017) was found between age and high blood pressure. More than half of the hypertensive population was jobless at the time of survey and nearly 46% had a positive family history of hypertension. Overall, the hypertension related knowledge among respondents was found to be adequate. Positive attitudes and appropriate practices were found to be existed during the analysis. Interestingly 98.5% of the interviewed participants believed that daily exercise had a beneficial role in hypertension control. About 65% participants knew the correct value of normal blood pressure (120/80 mmHg). Conclusion:Sufficient awareness should be created among the public, public health authorities, medical practitioners, and pharmacists to inform, educate, and inform the public comprehensively about hypertension and its associated consequences.

Public's Knowledge of Hypertension and its Associated Factors: A Cross-Sectional Study

“…People will misinterpret the disease and will go undiagnosed [28]. This lack of knowledge regarding HTN's symptoms could affect healthcare-seeking behavior [31]. Community awareness campaigns could enhance the public's knowledge of HTN's symptoms and promote the screening and diagnosis of HTN.…”

“…However, some studies reported high knowledge of HTN-related complications among their participants [16,24,32]. This lack of knowledge regarding complications could affect the perception of HTN threat as a silent killer [31] and the adoption of healthy lifestyle modification to prevent the complications [7,8,33]. It is worth paying attention to the people with inadequate knowledge since it could be a factor of complications and subsequent disability [16].…”

Public’s Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices Related to Hypertension

“…Gong et al informed that the knowledge and belief of hypertension prevention were good in Shanghai [8]. Bashaar et al stated that the hypertension related knowledge among respondents was found to be good at community level in Kabul [9]. Sabouhi et al informed that among the hypertensive patients referring to public health care centers in Khoor and Biabanak, patients relatively had high awareness, knowledge about hypertension [2].…”

Knowledge and perceptions about non-communicable diseases by people living with HIV: a descriptive cross-sectional study from Chitungwiza Central Hospital Zimbabwe

“…Furthermore, the participants pointed out stigma from relatives and community at large as another major challenge mainly due to limited knowledge of the conditions in the society. This shows need for community education on NCDs for the families and the public as highlighted in the key literature reviewed 6,8,9,14 .…”

“…A literature scan reveals a dearth in studies focusing on knowledge, attitudes and perceptions on NCDs in LMICs and the SSA region. Most of the studies focusing on the knowledge, attitudes, and practices on NCDs were conducted in India 8 , 9 and Pakistan 10 . To our knowledge studies conducted in the SSA region do not assess patients' knowledge and perceptions regarding the comorbidity of HIV and NCDs.…”