Administration of boiled celery water to reduce blood pressure in hypertensive patients during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Hypertension is one of the comorbid diseases that can aggravate COVID-19, meanwhile, the COVID-19 infection can increase complications due to the downregulation of ACE2. Hypertension control can be performed with herbal therapy, which is considered safer than modern medicine. Additionally, traditional medicine has relatively fewer side effects compared to modern medicine, which is celery leaves. This research examined the effect of administering boiled celery water on reducing blood pressure in patients with hypertension. This is Pre-Experiment research with a One Group Pretest Posttest design, carried out in the working area of the Air Salobar Health Center from October 11 – November 19, 2020. The sample was 215 hypertensive patients, selected using the purposive sampling method. The Wilcoxon test showed that there was an effect on the administration of boiled celery water to reduce systolic and diastolic blood pressure in patients with hypertension (p = 0.00). Boiled celery water is expected to be an option for hypertensive patients when there is an increase in blood pressure.