Affiliations 

  • 1 Department of Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
  • 2 SingHealth Polyclinics, Jalan Bukit Merah Connection One, Singapore
PLoS One, 2019;14(11):e0224649.
PMID: 31693677 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0224649

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Self-care has been shown to improve clinical outcome of hypertension. Gauging the level of self-care among patients with hypertension enables the design of their personalized care plans. This study aimed to determine the self-care profiles and its determinants among patients with hypertension in the Malaysian primary care setting.

METHODS: This was a cross sectional study conducted between 1 October 2016-30 April 2017 in three primary care clinics in the state of Selangor, Malaysia. All adults aged 18 years and above with hypertension for at least 6 months were recruited with a systematic random sampling of 1:2 ratio. The participants were assisted in the administration of the structured questionnaire, which included socio-demographic information, medical information and the Hypertension Self-Care Profile (HTN SCP) tool. Statistical analysis was done using SPSS version 20.0. Multiple linear regression was performed to determine the determinants for self-care.

RESULTS: The mean age of the participants was 59.5 (SD10.2) years old. There were more women (52.5%) and most were Malays (44.0%) follow by Chinese (34%) and Indians (21%). Majority (84.2%) had secondary or primary school level of education. A third (30.7%) had a family history of hypertension. The mean total HTN-SCP score was 124.2 (SD 22.8) out of 180. The significant determinants that influenced the HTN-SCP scores included being men (B-4.5, P-value0.008), Chinese ethnicity (B-14.7, P-value<0.001), primary level education/no formal school education level (B-15.7, P-value<0.001), secondary level education (B-9.2, P-value<0.001) and family history of hypertension (B 4.4, P-value 0.014).

CONCLUSIONS: The overall hypertension self-care profile among patients in this multi-ethnic country was moderate. Being men, Chinese, lower education level and without family history of hypertension were associated with lower hypertension self-care profile score. Healthcare intervention programmes to address self-care should target this group of patients.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

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