Shiya Liu,1,2 Sufang Huang,1 Yaru Xiao,1 Jingjing Huang1,2 

1Department of Emergency Medicine, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430030, People’s Republic of China; 2School of Nursing, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430030, People’s Republic of China

Correspondence: Sufang Huang, Email huangsufang@tjh.tjmu.edu.cn

Background: Hypertension, a major cardiovascular disease risk factor, is a global public health challenge. Self-management is key, and with information and communication technology prevalence, online health information seeking behavior (OHISB) has become a common trend to boost patients’ self-management.
Purpose: This study aims to explore hypertensive patients’ OHISB and their impact on self-management practices, providing a basis for further improving patients’ OHISB and self-management behaviors.
Patients and Methods: This study selected 312 hypertensive patients from the Cardiology Department of a Wuhan tertiary hospital (March-April 2025), using a general information questionnaire, revised version of the Online Health seeking behavior Scale (OHB-S) and the Hypertension Patients Self-Management Behavior Rating Scale (HPSMBRS) for surveys. SPSS 26.0 did descriptive analysis of enumeration/measurement data; t-tests/ANOVA analyzed group differences; multiple linear regression examined OHISB-influencing factors; Pearson correlation and hierarchical regression explored relationships between OHISB and self-management.
Results: The total scores of OHISB and self-management were (55.20± 14.29) and (96.54± 16.62) respectively in the patients. The total scores of OHISB and self-management were significantly positively correlated (r=0.634, P< 0.05). The results of hierarchical regression analysis show that OHISB is an important influencing factor of self-management and can independently explain 21.2% of the variation in patients’ self-management.
Conclusion: Both the OHISB and self-management behaviors of hypertensive patients are at a relatively low level. OHISB is an important influencing factor of self-management. Hypertensive patients with a higher level of OHISB have a higher level of self-management. In the future, information sources should be carefully controlled, and a variety of online health information channels should be combined to provide targeted online hypertension health education, thereby enhancing the self-management capabilities of hypertension patients.

Keywords: hypertension, online health information seeking behavior, self-management