A first Iranian Study on Social Determinants of Self-management in Patients with Hypertension Referring to Tabriz Health Care Centers in 2017

Background: Poor control of hypertension is prevalent. Researches show that supporting patients with hypertension for doing self-management may improve quality of hypertension management in primary care. The goal of this study is measuring the social determinants of self-management among hypertensive patients who are managed by family physicians in Tabriz Health centers.Methods: This study was carried out in 2017 in health care centers affiliated with Tabriz University of Medical Sciences in Iran. Two hundred forty patients with hypertension, who referred to health care centers of Tabriz, were invited to fill out the self-management and social determinants of health questionnaires. Spearman correlation was used to determine the relationship between self-management score and its items with social determinants of health questionnaire and its items.Results: The correlation coefficient of self-management questionnaire score with social determinants variables including IDPLO\ʼV financial ability of securing the education, fruit and food and health care were 0.228 (p= 0.001), 0.149 (p < 0.05) , and 0.28 (p < 0.001) respectively. Item level analysis showed stronger positive associations between social determinants and self-management. Social determinates variables including education, income, financial ability of securing clothing, fruits & food, education and the health expenditure had significant correlations with three items of self-management questionnaire related to life style including consuming enough fruits and vegetables (3-5 times per day), controlling weight, exercise for controlling blood pressure and two items related to