Assessment of Regular Physical Activity in the Care of Hypertensive Patients at the Cardiology Institute of Abidjan and at the National Police Hospital (Ivory Coast)

摘要

Aim: Physical activity and other lifestyle changes are an important part of the guidelines for anti-hypertensive therapy. The effect of physical activity on hypertension and heart disease has been well described. No study in our context has been done on this issue. The aim of this study was to evaluate regular physical activity in the management of hypertensive patients at the Cardiology Institute of Abidjan and the National Police Hospital. Material and methods: This was a prospective and descriptive study held in the?External Consultations and Rehabilitation Departments of the aforementioned?structures. It started on July 20, 2017 and ended on September 7, 2017. The data were analyzed on SPSS version 22. A p-value of less than 0.05 was considered to be statistically significant. Results: Out of the 190 hypertensive patients recruited and educated, only 70 actually participated in the physical activities that took place in the Rehabilitation Department of Heart Institute. The mean age of the patients was 52 years ± 15 years. The most affected age group was between 40 and 49 years of age (47.40%). There was a male predominance with a sex ratio of 1.11. 63.16% of the patients had a superior. The follow-up time for Hypertension was more than one year in 73.68% of the cases. Our study highlighted the knowledge of the virtues of regular physical activity on the body in 94.74% of cases. Physical activity was prescribed in 94.74% of cases. It was practiced in 63.16% of cases. The mains reasons given for those who did not practice physical activity were “lack of willpower” (90%) and physical activity considered “too tiring” (70%). Physically active patients had a significant decrease of 17.98 mmHg in systolic blood pressure (p < 0.001) and 11.54 mmHg in diastolic blood pressure (p