[Formulae and special characters can only be approximated here. Please see the pdf version of the Abtract for an accurate reproduction.] Type 2 diabetes at least doubles the risk of cardiovascular disease. This can partly be explained by the increased prevalence of risk factors such as hypertension, dyslipidaemia and obesity. However, the underlying abnormality of insulin resistance and the presence of more recently identified risk factors including endothelial dysfunction, increased inflammation, and increased oxidative stress might also contribute towards the heightened cardiovascular risk. Fish oil, which contains eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA, 20:5 n-3), has wide-ranging beneficial effects on these and other abnormalities, and has reduced cardiovascular mortality in secondary prevention studies. Animal and human studies have recently established that in addition to EPA, docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, 22:6 n-3) also has beneficial effects, and furthermore, may have less detrimental effects than EPA on glycaemic control which has worsened in some fish and fish oil studies involving Type 2 diabetic subjects. Study 1 : This intervention study aimed to determine the independent effects of EPA and DHA on cardiovascular risk factors and glycaemic control in individuals with Type 2 diabetes receiving treatment for hypertension. In a double-blind placebo-controlled trial of parallel design, 59 subjects in good to moderate glycaemic control (HbA1c < 9%) were recruited from media advertising and randomised to 4 g/day of EPA, DHA or olive oil (placebo) for 6 weeks. Thirty-nine men and 12 post-menopausal women aged 61.2±1.2 yrs completed the study. Relative to placebo, and with Bonferroni adjustments for multiple comparisons, serum triglycerides fell by 19% (p=0.022) and 15% (p=0.022) in the EPA and DHA groups respectively. There were no changes in serum total cholesterol, or LDL- and HDL-cholesterol, although HDL2-cholesterol increased 16% with EPA (p=0.026) and 12% with DHA (p=0.05). HDL3-cholesterol fell by 11% (p=0.026) with EPA supplementation and LDL particle size increased by 0.26±0.10 nm (p=0.02) with DHA. Urinary F2-isoprostanes, an in-vivo marker of oxidative stress was reduced by 19% following EPA (p=0.034) and by 20% following DHA. DHA but not EPA supplementation reduced collagen-stimulated platelet aggregation (16.9%, p=0.05) and thromboxane release (18.8%, p=0.03), but there were no significant changes in PAF-stimulated platelet aggregation. Fasting glucose rose by 1.40±0.29 mmol/l (p=0.002) following EPA and 0.98±0.29 mmol/l (p=0.002) following DHA. Neither EPA nor DHA had any significant effect on HbA1c, fasting serum insulin or C-peptide, insulin sensitivity, stimulated insulin secretion, 24-hr ambulatory blood pressure and heart rate, markers of inflammation, and fibrinolytic or vascular function. Study 2 : This study aimed to examine the influence and causes of increased inflammation on vascular function in subjects recruited for Study 1. Compared with healthy controls (n=17), the diabetic subjects (n=29) had impaired flow-mediated dilatation (FMD) (3.9±3.0% vs 5.5±2.4%, p=0.07) and glyceryl-trinitrate mediated dilatation (GTNMD) (11.4±4.8% vs 15.4±7.1%, p=0.04) of the brachial artery. They also had higher levels of the inflammatory markers C-reactive protein (2.7±2.6 mg/l vs 1.4±1.1 mg/l, p=0.03), fibrinogen (3.4±0.7 g/l vs 2.7±0.3 g/l, p<0.001) and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (20.9±13.4 pg/l vs 2.5±1.7 pg/l, p<0.001). In diabetic subjects, after adjustment for age and gender, leukocyte count was an independent predictor of FMD (p=0.02), accounting for 17% of total variance. Similarly, leukocyte count accounted for 23% (p<0.001) and IL-6 for 12% (p=0.03) of variance in GTNMD. Von Willebrand factor, a marker of endothelial cell activation was correlated with leukocyte count (r=0.38, p=0.04), FMD (r=-0.35, p=0.06) and GTNMD (r=-0.47, p=0.009), whilst P-selectin, a marker of platelet activation was correlated with fibrinogen (r=0.58, p=0.001). Conclusion : EPA and DHA have similar beneficial effects on triglycerides, HDL2 cholesterol and oxidative stress in individuals with Type 2 diabetes and hypertension. However, DHA also increases LDL particle size and reduces collagen-stimulated platelet aggregation and thromboxane release, thus offering more potential than EPA as an anti-thrombotic agent. The beneficial effects of both oils were potentially offset by deterioration in glycaemic control. Neither oil affected blood pressure or vascular function. Longer-term studies with major morbidity and mortality as the primary outcome measures are required to assess the overall benefits and risks of EPA and DHA. The cross-sectional observations from Study 2 are consistent with the hypothesis that impaired vascular function in individuals with Type 2 diabetes and hypertension is at least in part secondary to increased inflammation, with associated endothelial and platelet activation.

The Namibian Treatment Guidelines of 2011 for hypertension management provide evidence-based care protocols for effective management of hypertension. Documentation of health care in clients’ records is important to ensure patient safety and effective continuity of care. Documentation in this study reflected the extent of implementation and compliance with the hypertension management guidelines. The purpose of this study was to examine physicians’ implementation and compliance with hypertension management guidelines, through auditing documentation in health passports of clients diagnosed with hypertension. The guidelines were used as a framework to assess completeness of documentation. The study used a non-experimental, descriptive, retrospective quantitative research to examine the physicians’ implementation and compliance with hypertension management guidelines at the selected hospital outpatient department in Namibia. Non-probability convenience sampling was used to select client records. Data were collected by means of a structured three point Likert scale checklist. Data were analysed using the (SPSS) version 23 for Windows. The findings showed poor documentation of care provided, thus, assuming low compliance with hypertension management guidelines. Major areas of poor documentation were found in monitoring of risks factors, investigations to monitor organ damage, advise on when to seek care and client-centred health education. Based on study results, recommendations were formulated to improve quality of documentation and thus, implementation of and compliance with hypertension management guidelines. / Health Studies / M. P. H. (Health Studies)

Dissertação(mestrado) - Universidade Federal do Rio Grande, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Enfermagem, Escola de Enfermagem, 2005. / Submitted by eloisa silva (eloisa1_silva@yahoo.com.br) on 2012-10-30T16:39:59Z No. of bitstreams: 1 rosylainemoura.pdf: 797486 bytes, checksum: f8f1e0d98ec21266a68ef7cfc6dd4d78 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Bruna Vieira(bruninha_vieira@ibest.com.br) on 2013-06-13T17:12:18Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 rosylainemoura.pdf: 797486 bytes, checksum: f8f1e0d98ec21266a68ef7cfc6dd4d78 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2013-06-13T17:12:18Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 rosylainemoura.pdf: 797486 bytes, checksum: f8f1e0d98ec21266a68ef7cfc6dd4d78 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2005 / Este estudo transversal objetivou estudar a prevalência da aderência ao tratamento anti-hipertensivo nos usuários das unidades de saúde da família em relação aos usuários das unidades básicas de saúde. Objetivou-se, ainda, descrever os fatores relacionados a esta aderência e comparar algumas características entre os dois tipos de unidade. Para isso, foram entrevistados 240 hipertensos(120 em cada tipo de unidade) com no mínimo 40 anos, com diagnóstico médico de hipertensão há pelo menos um ano, com prescriçãomédica para o uso de medicamento antihipertensivo há pelo menos um ano. Considerou-se usuário aquele que há pelo menos um ano está utilizando ou já utilizou (no caso específico das unidades de saúde da família), no mínimo um dos serviços disponíveis para o tratamento da hipertensão em uma das cinco unidades de saúde da família ou em uma das cinco unidades básicas de saúde selecionadas pelo estudo. A aderência ao tratamento medicamentoso foi medida através do Questionário Simplificado para Aderência à Medicação – SMAQ (KNOBEL, 2002). Para análise dos dados (bivariada e multivariada) foram utilizados o teste de qui-quadrado e regressão Poisson. Obtevese como resultado uma prevalência de aderência ao tratamento medicamentoso de 50% para toda a amostra. Não foi observada diferença entre as prevalências de aderência nas unidades estudadas (50% em ambas). Apesar disso, os usuários das unidades de saúde da família mostraram ter mais informações à respeito da doença e do tratamento. Os hipertensos de cor de pele branca e que vivem sem companheiro e com filhos mostraram ter mais probabilidade de aderir ao tratamento medicamentoso do que os de pele não-branca e que vivem com companheiro e filhos, respectivamente. / The objective of this transversal study is to study the prevalence of adherence to the anti-hypertensive treatment in users of the family health units in relation to the users of the basic health units. Another objective was to describe the factors related to this adherence and compare some characteristics between the two types of health units. In order to do this, 240 hypertensive people were interviewed (120 in each type of unit), of at least 40 years-old, and with a medical diagnosis of at least one year of hypertension, and to whom anti-hypertensive medication had been prescribed for at least one year. Were considered users those who, for at least one year, have been using or have used (in the specific case the family health units) one of the services available for the hypertension treatment in one of the five family health units or in one of the five basic health units selected for the study. The adherence to the salutary treatment was measured through the Simplified Questionnaire to Medicine Adherence – SMAQ (KNOBEL, 2002). For analysis of the data (bivariada and multivariada) the qui-square test and regression were used Poisson. It was obtained as result the adherence prevalence to the salutary treatment to the entire samples was of 50%. There were not differences observed to the adherence prevalence in the units studied (50% in both). In spite of that, the users of the family health units showed to have more information in respect to the disease and the treatment. The hypertensive people of white color skin and that live alone with the children show that are more likely to adhere to the medical treatment than those non-white that live with a spouse and children, respectively. / Este estudio transversal objetivo estudiar la prevalecía de la adherencia al tratamiento antihipertensivo en los usuarios de las unidades de salud de la familia con relación a los usuarios de las unidades básicas de salud. Se objetivo, todavía, describir los factores relacionados a esta adherencia y comparar algunas características entre los dos tipos de unidad. Para eso, fueron entrevistados 240 hipertensos (120 en cada tipo de unidad) con una edad mínima de 40 años, con diagnóstico médico de hipertensión hace por lo menos un año, con prescripción médica para el uso de medicamento antihipertensivo hace por lo menos un año. Se consideró usuario aquel que hace por lo menos un año está utilizando o ya ha utilizado (en el caso específico de las unidades de salud de la familia), en lo mínimo un de los servicios disponibles para el tratamiento de la hipertensión en una de las cinco unidades de salud de la familia o en una de las cinco unidades básicas de salud seleccionadas por el estudio. La adherencia al tratamiento medicamentoso fue medida a través del Cuestionario Simplificado para Adherencia a la Medicación – SMAQ (KNOBEL, 2002). Para analice de los dados (bivariada y multivariada) fueron utilizados o teste de qui-quadrado y regresión Poisson. Se obtuve como resultado una prevalecía de adherencia al tratamiento medicamentoso de 50% para toda la muestra. No fue observada diferencia entre las prevalecías de adherencia en las unidades estudiadas (50% en ambas). Además, los usuarios de las unidades de salud de la familia mostraron tener más informaciones respecto a la enfermedad y del tratamiento. Los hipertensos de color de piel blanca y que viven sin compañero y con hijos, mostraron tener más probabilidad de adherir al tratamiento medicamentoso del que los de piel no blanca y que viven con compañero y hijos, respectivamente.

Evidence suggests that the prevalence of certain non-communicable diseases, such as hypertension, is increasing rapidly, and that patients with these diseases are making significant demands on the health services of the nations in sub-Saharan Africa. However, these countries also face other health-related challenges such as communicable diseases and underdevelopmentrelated diseases. Developing countries like South Africa have limited resources, in terms of man power and financial capital, to address the challenges that they are facing. Non-communicable diseases cannot be ignored and since health care providers cannot meet the challenges, it is worthwhile to empower patients to be involved in the management of their conditions. Patient education is a tool that can be used to enable patients to manage their chronic conditions and thereby reduce the morbidity and mortality rates of these conditions. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of a patient education intervention on participants’ levels of knowledge about hypertension and its therapy, beliefs about medicines and adherence to anti-hypertensive therapy. The intervention consisted of talks and discussions with all the participants as one group and as individuals. There was also written information given to the participants. Their levels of knowledge about hypertension and its therapy were measured using one-on-one interviews and self-administered questionnaires. Beliefs about medicines were measured using the Beliefs about Medicines Questionnaire (BMQ) whilst adherence levels were measured using pill counts, elf-reports and prescription refill records. The participants’ blood pressure readings and body mass indices were also recorded throughout the study. The parameters before and after the educational intervention were compared using statistical analyses. The participants’ levels of knowledge about hypertension and its therapy significantly increased whilst their beliefs about medicines were positively modified after the educational intervention. There were also increases, though not statistically significant, in the participants’ levels of adherence to anti-hypertensive therapy. Unexpectedly, the blood pressure readings and body mass indices increased significantly. The participants gave positive feedback regarding the educational intervention and indicated a desire for similar programmes to be run continuously. They also suggested that such programmes be implemented for other common chronic conditions such as asthma and diabetes. This study proved that patient education programmes can be implemented to modify patients’ levels of knowledge about their conditions and the therapy, beliefs about medicines and adherence to therapy. However, such programmes need to be conducted over a long period of time since changes involving behaviour take a long time.

This thesis explores how decision-making agency roles played by doctors, pharmacists and government affect the social efficiency of choices in the prescription drug market. The primary objective is to contribute to the quality of expenditure decompositions in this sector and, thereby, to draw attention to the real cost of drug consumption in Canada. Expenditure growth in the pharmaceutical sector may occur because Canadians are purchasing more drugs or more in terms of the health outcomes sought through drug consumption. Prices may also be rising for the drugs that patients consume. Furthermore, with new generations of prescription drugs replacing older and often equally effective ones, expenditure inflation may be due, at least in part, to growing inefficiencies in consumption. Deflating nominal expenditures with traditional economic price indexes is a commonly used approach to decomposing expenditure changes into changes in price, changes in productivity or both. This method may be biased because decision-making agency relationships and non-standard financial incentives give rise to possible inefficiencies in the pharmaceutical sector that would not commonly be found in other sectors. This proposition is explored theoretically and empirically. Potential biases stemming from financial incentives are explored in the context of the measurement problem posed by the entry of generic drugs. Traditional techniques of the economic approach to measurement do not capture the full effect of generic competition because decision-making agents do not always have incentive to consider the full price of drugs consumed. Potential information-related problems in pharmaceutical price and productivity measurement are explored within the context of the hypertension market. Health outcomes based indexes are constructed for this treatment category based on recognized national guidelines for the treatment of hypertension. Economic indexes of price and productivity appear to overstate social productivity in this segment because persistent non-compliance with national guidelines has resulted in higher costs without corresponding health improvements. / Arts, Faculty of / Vancouver School of Economics / Graduate

Conclusions. Regardless the method the information on benefit was provided, the maximum amount of money which people are willing to pay for antihypertensive varied substantially. Using relative risk to present the benefit would distort the viewpoint of the public regarding the importance of drug treatment. Residents were much more conservative in antihypertensive drugs than physicians. Most hypertensive patients in China would probably not accept drugs treatment for primary prevention if they are adequately informed. Rural residents were on average, less willing to take antihypertensive drugs than urban residents. Residents had a poor perception of their cardiovascular risk due to hypertension and the benefit of drug treatment. Most physicians in our study did not have good knowledge on overall risk approach and Chinese national guidelines. They had also very poor knowledge and skills related to evidence based medicine. (Abstract shortened by UMI.) / Objective. To assess the maximum amount of money residents are willing to pay for antihypertensive drugs given the actual benefit of treatment. To decide the minimum benefit (expressed in NNT) above which people are willing to pay for antihypertensive drugs at the current cost. To determine the minimum risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) above which people would be willing to pay for antihypertensive at the current cost. To assess whether reporting of study results by using relative risk reduction and NNT affects people's willingness to pay for and physicians' willingness to prescribe antihypertensive drugs. To evaluate patients' and physicians' perception of perceived CVD risk due to hypertension and benefit of treatment. To assess knowledge, attitude and perception of the public and physicians regarding antihypertensive drugs and physicians' knowledge and skills on evidence based medicine. / Results. The response rate for residents was 91%. 95% of respondents reported that they would be willing to take antihypertensive drugs if they found to have high blood pressure. The majority of residents did not know the ultimate goal of blood pressure lowering was to reduce the risk of CVD. 91% said that they had not enough knowledge and information to make drug-taking decisions. The perceived 5-year baseline risk in the absence of treatment, absolute risk reduction and relative risk reduction was 70%, 40% and 60% respectively. Rural residents tended to over-rate their risk and benefit more than urban residents. Overall, 2%, 3% and 47% of residents were not willing to pay anything for antihypertensive drugs when information on benefit of treatment was described in general, with RRR and with NNT respectively. The median cost the residents were willing to pay was $500, $700 and $100 respectively for responding three ways of describing the benefit. / The response rate for physicians was 95%. The perceived 5-year baseline risk, absolute risk reduction and relative risk reduction was 40%, 20% and 39% respectively. Internists tended to give a slightly higher estimate of the 5-year risk (40% vs 30%, p&lt;0.05) and of the RRR (39 vs 29, p&lt;0.05). Overall, physicians were more likely to prescribe antihypertensive drugs when the benefit information was expressed in RRR than when it was expressed in NNT (p&lt;0.001). The median minimum NNT and the 5-year CVD risk above which physicians are willing to prescribe was 200 and 1.5% respectively. / Wang Weizhong. / "November 2006." / Adviser: Jinling Tang. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 68-08, Section: B, page: 5119. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 105-114) / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, MI : ProQuest dissertations and theses, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / School code: 1307.

Various studies on compliance with anti-hypertensive medications and appropriate lifestyle modifications have been conducted worldwide but studies specific to the Island of Praslin are lacking. The purpose of this quantitative, descriptive-correlational study was to describe factors that affected compliance with hypertension medications and lifestyle modification strategies in a sample of 102 hypertensive persons. The comprehensive version of the Health Belief Model served as the conceptual framework directing the study. The researcher investigated whether there were any significant relationships between compliance and the Health Belief Model variables. Data was collected by means of structured interviews and document analysis, involving an interview schedule and a checklist. All respondents were diagnosed hypertension patients registered at either of the two public health centres on the Island of Praslin. Individual perception of the benefits and risks of hypertension treatment as well as cues to action were found to be significant determinants of compliance behaviour. The study highlighted the need for improved health education and follow-up measures to strengthen patients’ perceptions about the benefits of treatment and compliance. / Public Health / M.A. (Public Health)

Various studies on compliance with anti-hypertensive medications and appropriate lifestyle modifications have been conducted worldwide but studies specific to the Island of Praslin are lacking. The purpose of this quantitative, descriptive-correlational study was to describe factors that affected compliance with hypertension medications and lifestyle modification strategies in a sample of 102 hypertensive persons. The comprehensive version of the Health Belief Model served as the conceptual framework directing the study. The researcher investigated whether there were any significant relationships between compliance and the Health Belief Model variables. Data was collected by means of structured interviews and document analysis, involving an interview schedule and a checklist. All respondents were diagnosed hypertension patients registered at either of the two public health centres on the Island of Praslin. Individual perception of the benefits and risks of hypertension treatment as well as cues to action were found to be significant determinants of compliance behaviour. The study highlighted the need for improved health education and follow-up measures to strengthen patients’ perceptions about the benefits of treatment and compliance. / Public Health / M.A. (Public Health)

D.Litt. et Phil. / A problematic aspect of the latter half of the twentieth century in the South African health context, has been the change of the incidence of hypertension amongst black South Africans from being barely. endemic to being a virtual epidemic. This change in hypertension has had several negative components, notably the development of malignant hypertension wherein a markedly accelerated rate of development in hypertension has led to severely high incidences of morbidity and mortality amongst black South Africans notably in urban areas. Many researchers have cited the rapid process of urbaniztion as being the major cause, of this rapid rise in the relative incidence of hypertension amongst black South Africans. Whereas previously, the rapid rise of hypertension in urbanizing black South Africans has been attributed to the social readjustment, associated with urbanization, recent research have suggested that it is not only stressrelated, but also related to a change in basic lifestyle. Basic lifestyle changes have been found to include a change in work ethic from being a rural, cooperative work ethic, to being an urbanized firstworld type A, aggressive, competitive workstyle. This has led also to changes in eating habits with the ingestion of more salt, fats and oils, and has led to a hurried, but non exercised lifestyle. Because of the rapid increase of incidence of hypertension amongst black South Africans, the treatment of this condition has become problematic~ While black South Africans do not respond as well to traditional pharmacological interventions in this condition, they also show side-effects which make it very difficult for them to continue taking this medication. The cost aspects have also been noted to be prohibitively high and the availability of medicines because of the cost aspects has been projected to decline in the coming century. For this reason it would be "important to address other adjunctive measures to treat hypertension amongst black South Africans. In addition to standard harmacological interventions , it appears that there has been mention in the Iiterature of. lifestyle changes to be an efficacious intervention method in stabilizing and reducing blood pressure amongst hypertensives. This has however not been investigated individually or systematically amongst black South Africans. It was therefore the purpose of this study to investigate the effectiveness of lifestyle intervention programs, notably an aerobic exercise intervention, a dietary intervention, and an intervention to increase assertiveness and therefore reduce the aggressiveness associated with the competitive working style acquired by black South Africans. In order to test the efficacy of these treatment measures, a large group of black mineworkers were selected on a basis of meeting the diagnostic criteria for essential hypertension. These black mineworkers were then systematically sUbjected to an aerobic exercise intervention, a dietary intervention, and anger management by means of assertiveness training. Various measures were performed on a pretest and posttest basis. All three interventions were shown to have moderate efficacy. It was found that aerobic exercise, the dietary intervention and the anger management to be associated with a decline in both systolic and diastolic blood pressure, and to be associated with a reduction in the taking of hypertensive medication as ordered by the attending physicians. The aerobic exercise intervention also indicated that black South African mineworkers are relatively unfit and a ch~nge in fitness resulted in a decline in systolic and diastolic blood pressure. The dietary intervention proved to be efficient in terms of changing lifestyle eating habits. Of note is the fact that there was a substantial decrease in the taking of medication when compared to a· control group. It would appear from this research that the specific forms of lifestyle change in black hypertensives noted in this study would be an efficient adjunct or even a substitute for present treatment of hypertension amongst black mineworkers.

This study’s objectives were to identify, describe, and provide guidelines on using indigenous-western antihypertensive therapies in Belize to examine indigenous therapies’ efficacy in lowering blood pressure. The researcher utilized an explanatory sequential mixed method research design to examine indigenous-western therapies. Data were collected quantitatively from the general public (n=422) and qualitatively from hypertensive patients (n=24) using indigenous therapies and vendors (n=19) of indigenous therapies. The study results identified 47 different medicinal plants used in the management of hypertension in Belize, as reported by participants. Besides, leaves were the most reported plant part used to manage hypertension, while boiling (decoction) was the most common preparation method. The common route of administration was the oral route, and ½ to 1 cup 2 to 3 times daily was the dose and frequency of administration, respectively. The majority of participants using indigenous therapies did not report side effects. Conversely, orally administered hydrochlorothiazide and captopril were the most common western therapies reported by most respondents in the study. The majority of the respondents did not report concomitant use of indigenous-western therapies to manage their hypertension; however, those who used indigenous therapies reported that medicinal plants were efficacious in lowering their blood pressure. Some of the claims by participants are verified by Western science, thereby authenticating indigenous therapy claims. The researcher developed guidelines on the use of indigenous-western therapies from the results of the study. Collaboration between indigenous healers and Western medical practitioners to provide holistic healthcare approaches was recommended since both sciences have identical foundations and can learn from each other. The government should incorporate indigenous knowledge systems into school curricula. / Health Studies / Ph. D. (Public Health)