Level of knowledge about the effect of obesity on hypertension among the patients of Isfahan Oil Company Polyclinic, Iran

BACKGROUND: Hypertension is a chronic disease and is one of the complications of Obesity. Based on this serious complication and the importance of preventing hypertension, we decided to study the level of public knowledge about the effect of obesity on hypertension. METHODS: The present study was conducted through simple random sampling (SRS) on 262 patients of Isfahan Oil Company Polyclinic, Iran. In order to collect the required data, we provided special questionnaires which were completed by the patients. RESULTS: Most of the patients participating in our study were over 40 years of age (50%). The next largest age group consisted of 40?45 year olds (14%). The lowest educational status was high school diploma (41.3%), and 75.7% were married. 60.7% of the participants mentioned hypertension as a complication of obesity. 21.1% stated that hypertension is not a complication of obesity and18.2% did not know. CONCLUSION: Since public knowledge about the effect of obesity on hypertension is rather moderate, efforts to increase public knowledge and treat obesity are important in reducing the rate of patients with hypertension.