EFFECT OF CUCUMBER (CUCUMIS SATIVUS) JUICE ON LOWERING BLOOD PRESSURE IN ELDERLY

Background: Hypertension is one of the diseases that cause high morbidity. The use of modern hypertension medical treatment may cause a side effect, so cucumber as one of traditional medicines may become a choice. Objective: This study aims to see the effect of cucumber ( Cucumis sativus ) juice on lowering blood pressure in elderly at working area of Puskesmas (public health center) of Abeli, Kendari, 2015. Methods: This was a pre-experiment study with one group pretest-posttest design. Twenty elderly > 60 years old were selected by simple random sampling. Results: The result showed that there was a significant effect of cucumber juice on lowering blood pressure in elderly people at working area of Puskesmas of Abele, with t test for systolic blood pressure showed that t count > t table (7.095>2.093) or P-value is 0.000 t table (6.190>2,093) or P-value is 0.000 < 0.05. Conclusion: The significant effect of cucumber ( Cucumis sativus ) juice on lowering blood pressure in elderly suggested that health professional might need to have the cucumber to deal with hypertension. However, further study is needed to examine the effect.