Characteristics and Palliative Care Needs Among Older Indonesian Adults Living with Chronic Hypertension

Background: Chronic diseases including hypertension have become a global burden in the older population and are associated with increased mortality and decreased quality of life. The persistence of these diseases could increase the comorbidities and impact older patients who need palliative care services to manage the symptom and improve their quality of life.  This study aims to determine the characteristics and determinants of palliative care needs among older Indonesian adult patients living with chronic hypertension. Methods: This study applied a quantitative research design with a cross-sectional approach. The study was conducted in primary a healthcare facility in Kolaka Regency, Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia from July to October 2022. The subjects were 142 elderlies with chronic hypertension who were recruited by census. The data were collected using a demographic questionnaire and the Indonesian version of the Supportive and Palliative Care Indicators Tool (SPICT 2019 Version) and were analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistic Software version 25 and Pearson Chi Square test with significant value < 0.05. Results: According to the findings, 47.2% of the respondents were in the age group of 55 to 64 years and the majority of them were women (55.6%), and living in rural areas (54.9%). Also, most of them had comorbidities (77.5%) and at least one comorbidity (66.9%) and 26.8% of them needed palliative care.  The Bivariate analysis showed that having comorbidities is associated with palliative care needs among the older adults with chronic hypertension (p-value <0.05). Conclusion: This study showed that comorbidity has a significant relationship with palliative care  needs  in older patients living with chronic hypertension, which demands the treatment team members’ attention to the presence of comorbidities in patients with chronic hypertension. For greater generalizability of the results and providing stronger evidence, research with a larger sample size is recommended.