The lack of relationship between reported self-care, and the factors that influence blood hypertension, in Costa Rican patients

Hypertension is a major health problem worldwide, and its control depends on a good level of self-care, a subject that in Latin America has not been studied in university personnel. We wanted to know if factors known to affect the development of hypertension, also had a relationship with self-care in patients, and for this, we interviewed 80 hypertense university employees who visited the medical service of an university in Costa Rica from January 14, 2002 through December 15, 2008. They answered a questionnaire that we wrote based on the Morinsky and the Martin-Bayarre-Grau questionnaire. Age, sex, education, medical history, treatment and relationship with health personnel showed no association with the level of self-care reported by patients. In a 1-100 scale, the majority of patients scored between 75 and 90 points, indicating that they reported high levels of self-care. Our direct personal experience with these patients indicates that reported self-care is consistent with their hypertension control levels. This kind of study is not new in developed countries, but fills an important gap in our knowledge of health in Latin American university personnel.

TALENTO COSTA RICA