Background The study was aimed at evaluating the nutritional knowledge and selected elements of lifestyle of obese patients with diagnosed arterial hypertension.
Material and methods It covered 52 persons with diagnosed arterial hypertension - patients of the Clinic of Occupational Diseases and Arterial Hypertension, Clinical Hospital of the Medical Academy in Wrocław, and was conducted from February till May 2008. The nutritional knowledge and selected elements of lifestyle were evaluated by means of own-construct, standardized questionnaire developed at the Chair of Human Nutrition, Wrocław University of Life and Environmental Sciences. It included questions from different fields referring to knowledge on rational nutrition, types of physical activity, frequency of cigarette smoking, etc.
Results Physical activity lasting each time for 20-60 minutes in free time was declared by 85.7% of the women and by 74.2% of the men. Nearly 26% of the men and 14% of the women did not perform any physical exercises. In the reported survey, evaluation included also patients’ occupational physical activity. Amongst the respondents surveyed, 66.7% of the women and 35.4% of the men did not work. When asked about applying therapeutic diet, in most cases the patients replied that they did not use any diet. Such replies were delivered by 66.7% of the women and by as many as 87.1% of the men. The high percentage of such answers indicates that the patients do not comply with dietetic recommendations as the basic element of the hypotensive therapy.
Conclusions The nutritional knowledge of the patients with arterial hypertension may be evaluated as satisfactory. Unfortunately, in most of the cases the knowledge of principles of nutrition does not translate into proper nutritional behaviors.