Ann Pharmacol Pharm | Volume 5, Issue 1 | Research Article | Open Access

Possible Effects of Medication Regimen on Non-Adherence to Antihypertensive Therapy

Chen-Pei Ho1,2, Shih-Hsin Wu L3* and Tony Jer-Fu Lee2,4,5,6

1Department of Pharmacy, Buddhist Tzu Chi General Hospital, Taiwan 2Institute of Medical Sciences, Tzu Chi University, Taiwan 3Department of Life Sciences, China Medical University, Taiwan 4Department of Medical Research, Buddhist Tzu Chi General Hospital, Taiwan 5Department of Life Sciences, Tzu Chi University, Taiwan 6Department of Pharmacology, Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, USA

*Correspondance to: Lawrence Shih-Hsin Wu 

Fulltext PDF

Abstract

Purpose: Poor control of Blood Pressure (BP) may be attributable to many factors; non-adherence is considered a main cause for inadequate BP control. The study aimed to investigate the potential effects of medication regimen on adherence to antihypertensive therapy and explored BP profiles of hypertensive patients disaggregated by the level of medication adherence. Methods: A retrospective cohort study of electronic medical records of hypertension outpatients in Taiwan. We surveyed 604 adult (age ≥ 30 years) outpatients with hypertension using structured questionnaires and measured BP and physiological parameters. Chi-square test and Fisher’s exact test for categorical variables and analysis of variance for continuous variables were performed to assess differences among patients with high, medium and low level of medication adherence. Multiple regression analysis was used to examine the relationship between BP and adherence after controlling for potential confounding factors. Results: Significant difference was found among the three groups with respect to the number of sources of medications, dosage forms, duration of hypertension, age, education, marital status, employment, Systolic BP (SBP), Diastolic BP (DBP) and Mean Arterial Pressure (MAP) (P<0.05 for all). Multiple sources of medications had a significant adverse effect on adherence (β= -1.06, P<0.01). Adherence was a predictor of SBP (β= -0.60, P=0.03), DBP (β= -0.32, P=0.04) and MAP (β= -0.41, P=0.02). Conclusion: Multiple sources of medication were associated with poor adherence to antihypertensive therapy, which was found to predict the level of BP control.

Keywords:

Hypertension; Blood pressure; Antihypertensive therapy; Adherence; Regimen

Citation:

Ho C-P, Shih-Hsin Wu L, Jer-Fu Lee T. Possible Effects of Medication Regimen on Non-Adherence to Antihypertensive Therapy. Ann Pharmacol Pharm. 2020;5(1):1175.

Subscribe to Our Newsletter