Developing a community approach to hypertension management through community profiling

Jesus Martin Treviño Theriot, Heather Lynn Rogers

Keywords: Social Prescription. Community Health. Hypertension.

Background:

Social determinants participate either in the development and/or control of hypertension. European Guidelines recommend a patient-centered care approach, because it offers higher satisfaction and adherence to prescriptions. Lifestyle modification plays a significant role in hypertensive treatment. However, pharmacological treatment and its assessment have been considered the most relevant factor.

Research questions:

What do we know about our community’s preferences regarding hypertension management? Which lifestyle intervention is preferred in our community?

Method:

Cross-sectional, anonymous and voluntary study. Descriptive analysis. A self-report survey will be completed by 300 hypertensive patients, excluding a history of stroke and heart attack, from ages between 18 to 69 attending their neighborhood health center between September to December of 2025. The sample size was calculated to achieve an acceptable MOE of 5% based on a target population in our community of 1408. The survey consists of 19 multiple choice questions. Eleven of them are closed-answer questions from WHO StepWise survey oriented towards hypertension, exercise, nutrition, daily stress, limiting smoking/alcohol, and pharmacological treatment. In addition, it contains 4 questions about which therapeutic approach between exercise, nutrition, quitting smoking-drinking-drugs, pharmacological treatment and stress management is preferred in the community using a Likert scale score (1-5); Three questions address personal economic difficulties complying with treatment, one exclusion question and finally, if the individual would participate in a community activity if offered.

Results:

The analysis of personal and community preferences in controlling and treating hypertension through pharmacological management and lifestyle strategies will be used to elaborate a proposal of social prescription to implement in our community.

Conclusions:

Social prescription plays an important role improving access to health, instead of treating the disease itself. Because changes in lifestyle are difficult to follow, understanding better our community will help us chose the best strategy to recommend and implement through social prescription. Further research will be needed.

Points for discussion:

Community approach of hypertension.

Understanding our community health needs.

Health promotion to treat hypertension.

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