Introduction
High blood pressure (greater than 140/90mmHg), also known as hypertension, is one of the most thriving cardiovascular anomalies contemporarily (Jackevicius, 2012). One of the recent World Health Organization reports indicate that approximately 970 million of the total world population suffers from hypertension. A breakdown of the figures reveals an even grave situation that keeps burgeoning out of hand with time. For instance, 330 and 640 million of the population of developed and developing nations are victims of elevated blood pressure respectively (WTO, 2013). It is on such grounds that the World Health Organization rates hypertension as a prominent cause of premature mortality across the globe. But the reason behind such figures is somewhat unexpected. According to Seanny (2010), medical non-compliance is the chief justification for the prevalence of high blood pressure. Several expeditions and studies in the past have made a credible link between regimen non-adherence and the increase in the cases of high blood pressure and other cardiovascular diseases. The non-adherence to medication is, however, a product of several factors, both physician and patient-based. Among the chief causative agents of medical non-compliance include low literacy, impeded access to the medications, financial constraints and cultural issues (Seanny, 2010). The following literature review aims at establishing whether increasing health literacy would reduce blood pressure in patients with hypertension. Health literacy, as a factor, gives distinct attention as Lucy (2010) observes that it is the major factor in medical non-compliance.
The Magnitude of Health Illiteracy in Patients with Hypertension