THE STATUS OF HYPERTENSION OF ELDERLY PEOPLE AND THEIR NUTRITIONAL HABITS

This study has been planned and conducted to determine the state of hypertension of individuals and their nutrition habits. The study sampling was composed of people who are 65 years old and over (n=110) and who applied to Gölbası HASVAK State Hospital, which is a state hospital located in Gölbası district of Ankara. The data were collected by means of filling a questionnaire form and the explanatory variables are gender, age and Body Mass Index. The average age of the individuals involved in this research was 71.63 Box 5.68. It was determined that 67.2% of females were illiterate, and 42.9% of males were primary school graduates. The body weight of only 11.9% of participants was within the normal boundaries when evaluated with the Body Mass Index. Most of the elderly people participating in this research (87.3%) stated that they had health problems and among those health problems hypertension (76.1%) was stated at the first place. It was determined that average sistolic blood pressure of the individuals was 141.25 Box 21.8 mmHg and the average diastolic blood pressure was 79.36 Box 14.91 mmHg. It was also determined that 56.4% of the participants have meals three times in a day and 35.5% of them do not skip a meal. The most skipped meal was the lunch. The elderly people participating in this research (42.7%) stated that they have low salty diets