Effectiveness of Lifestyle Changes in Improving Hypertension in Older Inpatients

Introduction / Background

The purpose of this study is to look into the effectiveness of lifestyle changes in improving hypertension in older inpatients, allowing them to better control and manage their blood pressure. It will concentrate on lifestyle issues such as informing patients about the advantages of a healthy diet and regular exercise. The mechanism by which high blood pressure causes cardiovascular disease will be discussed.

Hypertension is one of the primary causes of mortality and morbidity in individuals, according to the World Health Organization (WHO 2013), accounting for more than 7.5 million deaths per year. According to them, high blood pressure is a key risk factor for cardiovascular disease, which adds to the overall burden of heart disease. Individual genetic, environmental, and behavioural factors such as inadequate dietary potassium, smoking, excessive dietary salt, overweight and obesity, physical inactivity, and excessive alcohol consumption may all contribute to these risk factors (Pilakkadavath et al 2016). Despite this risk, Al-Wehedy et al. (2014) discovered that the majority of hypertension patients are unaware of the importance of making lifestyle changes. As a result, it is critical to develop various methods for improving lifestyle modification practise and knowledge (Aronow (2017).

Research Question

During my placement, I noticed that, despite the availability of several antihypertensive medicines and treatment guidelines for hypertension, the number of hypertensive patients on the ward continues to rise. I discovered that almost half of these patients are uneducated. Following my observation, I discussed the benefits of lifestyle intervention for the control of hypertension with my mentor and some of the team. Based on this, a questionnaire was created to see if a lifestyle modification training programme would be beneficial in changing their behaviour. This might be used as a starting point to discuss the patient's willingness to change their habits (Jeroen et a.,2012)

Search Strategy

Using Boolean operators, a systematic search of the literature was conducted in specialist databases such as Google scholar, PubMed, and the Scopus. Four researches were chosen for this literature evaluation from articles published between 2011 and now.

The literature search employed a broad set of phrases to find research on hypertension, cardiovascular disease, the effect of education on lifestyle adjustment, and nutritional and physical activity techniques to control and stop hypertension. The phrases were then blended for the desired outcome, which included at the very least compliance, adherence, perseverance, and negative consequences.

The following specified criteria were used to select potentially relevant full-text papers for inclusion: patients with hypertension, lifestyle change, and outcome of the research. Any patient having comorbidities that could impair his or her capacity to participate in the training programme and other activities was ruled out.