Evaluation of knowledge level of families about childhood hypertension

Introduction and aim:The prevalence of hypertension is increasing in children as well as in adults all over the world. Increased incidence of hypertension is associated with an increase in childhood and adolescent obesity, sedentary lifestyle, increased stress in children living in big cities, and also increased awareness of hypertension. Notwithstanding the escalation in the frequency of childhood hypertension, there are not enough studies evaluating the families' level of knowledge on this subject. Based on these findings, the aim of our study is to evaluate the knowledge level of families on the childhood hypertension. Materials and methods:Our research was carried out as a volunteer-based face-to-face questionnaire with the families who consulted to the outpatient clinics of Pediatrics at Yıldırım Beyazıt University Yenimahalle Training and Research Hospital between January 15 - June 15 2018. Results:Nine hundred and eigthy people (75.1% women, 24.9% men) participated in the study. 94.5% of them were married. Twentyfive point seven percent of them had one, 49.5% had two, 20.1% had three, 4.7% had four or more children. Twenty eight point seven percent of the participants have a university degree and 51.6% were housewives in terms of occupation. Six hundred sixtyfive of the participants were living in a provincial center and 37.3% of the participants had an income level over 2500 Turkish Liras. In response to "Can there be hypertension in childhood?", 55% of the participants said yes, 7,9% said no and 37% of them had no idea. Eighty three point four percent of the participants had children older than 3 years and only 25.6% of them had blood pressure measurements during routine examination. Ways of obtaining information about hypertension were significantly from family-relatives, written-visual media and internet. The answers of the participants to the 8 questions were evaluated and the median of the answer was found to be 5. Of the 8 questions, 367 participants (37.4%) responded correctly to at least 6 questions; 165 respondents (16.8%) gave correct answers to 5 questions; 448 people (45.8%) were the ones who responded correctly to questions 4 and below. It was determined that 31 people (3.2%) could not answer any questions correctly. There was no significant difference in knowledge level between men and women. As the age, income level and education level of the participants increased, their knowledge level increased significantly. The knowledge level of the participants who had previously measured their blood pressures and had hypertension was also higher than the others. Conclusion:It was detected that the participants' knowledge level on hypertension was moderate to low. It was also found that as the education levels of individuals increased, the overall level of knowledge increased. Considering the fact that hypertension, which is an important public health problem in our country, is becoming more widespread in childhood and it has morbidity towards adulthood, it is seen that there is a need for community-based and feasible projects on avoiding childhood hypertension and education of patients and families. Moreover, it is concluded that family physicians who have an important role in informing the society can provide the most effective, reachable, scientific and current information. Keywords: childhood, hypertension, parental, knowledge level