A Cross-Sectional Analytical Study of Knowledge and Practice of Exercise among Hypertensive Patients attending NCD Clinic in Western Gujarat

Introduction: Hypertension is a serious public health problem, globally and can be controlled by proper adherence to medications and lifestyle modifications. Though the efficacy of exercise in lowering blood pressure is a proven fact, little is known about the knowledge and practice of exercise in hypertensive. This study aimed at assessing the knowledge and practice of exercise in the hypertensive patients and finding the correlates of the knowledge. Materials and Methods: This hospital-based, cross-sectional study was done among 400 hypertensive patients attending NCD clinic at tertiary care hospital and 5 CHCs of Jamnagar district of Gujarat from July 2013 to June 2014. 50% of the sample was collected from the tertiary care centre where as remaining 50% were selected from 3 selected CHCs by simple random sampling technique. Pre-tested semi structured proforma was used to collect information from participants by one to one interview. Results: The majority (67.5%) were not aware regarding the benefits of exercise in hypertension and only 8.3% exercised. Patients who were exercising had 9.39 times more odds of higher knowledge of its benefit as compared to those who were not (p<0.05). The most common form of exercise was walking (87.9%). Majority (90.9%) practised for less than 30 min/day while only 27.3% exercised for at least 5 days/week. Younger the age group, more aware about benefit of exercise. Same was observed for male gender, urban area residence. Conclusion: Exercise is a cornerstone of such self-care behaviours, however knowledge and practice of exercise were found to be poor in the present study. Proper communication and motivation by health professional especially focussing on high risk groups observed in this study is of utmost importance.