Evaluation of Nutrition Education for Hypertension Patients Aged 50 Years and Over / 대한지역사회영양학회지

ABSTRACT

This study was designed to implement and evaluate a nutrition education program for hypertensive patients aged between 50 and over. Nutrition education consisted of four sessions and, 35 out of 51 patients completed all education sessions at the public health center. To assess program effectiveness (effectively), data about blood pressure, blood cholesterol, anthropometry, nutrition knowledge, eating behavior and dietary intake were collected before and after nutrition education. Data were analyzed using SAS package (ver. 9.2) and significant difference was evaluated by paired t-test, x2-test and Wilcoxon signed rank test. Blood cholesterol was significantly reduced from 200.7 mg/dL to 188.7 mg/dL after nutrition education, although there were not significant changes in blood pressure or blood triglyceride level. Weight (p < 0.05), % body fat (p < 0.001), BMI (p < 0.05) were significantly reduced, especially in women, after nutrition education. Nutrition knowledge was increased significantly (p < 0.05), and some eating behaviors such as 'having fruits & vegetables for snack' and 'having brown rice, barley rice than white rice' were improved after nutrition education (p < 0.05). Sodium intake was reduced from 3,888.9 mg/day to 3,157.4 mg/day after nutrition education (p < 0.05). Except protein and iron intakes, the nutrient intake of hypertensive patients was much below the recommended level for Koreans. Dietary intakes of most of nutrients were not significantly different between pre-test and post-test. It appeared that nutrition education for the aged hypertensive patients was effective in reducing the percentage of % body fat and BMI, increasing the nutrition knowledge and some dietary behaviors. This nutrition education can be implemented at public health centers or senior centers for hypertensive patients.