Author(s)

Jinyue Li, Ziyun Liang, Zixian Wang

Corresponding Author

Jinyue Li

Abstract

Background: Hypertension, as the most common cardiovascular disease, is one of the most important risk factors for stroke and coronary heart disease.The acquisition and perception of social support can help patients to control blood pressure and improve the quality of life. We intend to study the status and influencing factors of social support for elderly hypertension patients in Guangzhou community. Methods: In this study, 384 elderly patients with hypertension aged 60 to 75 years in Guangzhou community were selected by stratified sampling method. A questionnaire survey was conducted, including, social support rating scale(SSRS) and Patient Assessment of Chronic Illness Care(PACIC) and other basic information. Result: The average scores of total social support, objective support, subjective support and support utilization are lower than the norms(34.77 ± 6.36, 7.62 ± 1.86,20.45 ± 4.04, 6.70 ± 1.94,respectively).Education level, smoking status, disease cognition score, hospitalization frequency, chronic disease management score, living with friends and self-expense are the main influencing factors of support utilization score of elderly hypertension patients (P < 0.05).Education level, family history and chronic disease management score are the main influencing factors of social support score of elderly hypertension patients(P < 0.05). Conclusion: The social support level of elderly hypertension patients in community in Guangzhou is lower than the norm in general, so it is necessary to build stableand reliable social networks to improve the level of social support for patients.

Keywords

Community, Elderly, Hypertension, Social support