Project Description

Author: Hasan et al.

Summary:

The objective of the study was to assess health-seeking behavior and associated factors among hypertensive patients in Bangladesh. This cross-sectional study was carried out in the Hypertension & Research Center, Rangpur, Bangladesh between January 2022 to June 2022. A total of 497 hypertensive adults were interviewed. A pre-tested semi-structured questionnaire was deployed by the research team for data collection. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was used to explore the predictors of health-seeking behavior. Mean age of the hypertensive patients was 52 ±11 (SD) years. Majority of them were aged between 51 to 60 years (33%), female (55%), came from rural areas (57%), and belonged to middle socio-economic class (68%). One fourth of the patients (27%) have chosen informal health care providers for their first consultation. Fear of stroke (244, 45%), headache (170, 36%) and neck pain (81, 17%) were the three most common compelling causes of their visit. Age (aOR 0.96, 95% CI 0.94 – 0.98), male sex (aOR: 1.81, 95% CI 1.05 – 3.10), living in semi-urban (aOR 4.69, 95% CI 1.46 – 15.12) and/or rural area (aOR 1.72, 95% CI 1.03 – 2.88), farmers as occupation (aOR: 3.18, 95%CI: 1.29 – 7.85) and belonging to lower social economic class (aOR 4.15, 95% CI 1.64 – 10.47) were predictors of visiting informal providers of hypertensive patient. One-fourth of the hypertensive patients received consultation from the informal health care providers. Raising awareness and proper referral to specialized hypertension centers could promulgate the patients towards appropriate behavior.

Status: Ongoing

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