BACKGROUND: Hypertension is a global health issue among the adult population with high morbidity and mortality rates. Poor adherence to medication is associated with bad outcome of the disease and wastage of health resources. Therefore, this study aims to determine the role of patient education in medication adherence among hypertensives attending tertiary hospitals in Ekiti State, South Western, Nigeria.METHODS: This is a descriptive cross-sectional study involving 420 participants attending Family Medicine Department Clinic of Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Ido-Ekiti. Relevant data were collected using semi-structured questionnaire.RESULTS: The mean age of respondents was 60.97 ± 11.28 years, and a slight female preponderance (male: female = 1:1.7 over male). Three hundred and forty nine (83.1%) were married, 273(65.0%) were from a monogamous family and 375(89.2%) had family sizes of more than 4. Ninety four (22.4%) had good knowledge about hypertension, and 257(61.2%) were adherent to their medication. Increased medication adherence proportion was observed as knowledge about hypertension improves. The odds of adherence to treatment among subjects with good knowledge is 2 times (OR = 2.320, 95%CI = 1.164, 4.626) higher than among subjects with poor knowledge.CONCLUSION: The proportion of respondents with good knowledge about hypertension is low. However, the adherence among them to medication is higher and statistically significant. Patient education about the disease and its treatment by primary care physicians can help to improve adherence to medication.

Background: Despite many approaches to control hypertension, a lot of people still experience challenges keeping their Blood Pressure (BP) under control, and because the condition requires life -long treatment, many patients will need additional effort from their spouses. The spouse shares intimacy with patient and is the chief source of social support that provides fi nancial assistance, reminds and encourages medication use, shows concern and interest by discussing issues related to the disease. Therefore, exploring the relationship between Perceived Spousal Social Support (PSSS) and BP control will help the physician and other stakeholders harness the gains of this association to achieving BP control, prevent complications and death associated with hypertension.Objective: To identify the relationship between perceived spousal social support and blood pressure control among hypertensive patients attending General Outpatient Clinic

Background: There abound many strategies to control hypertension, however, many patients still have diffi culty adhering to medications and this results to poor Blood Pressure (BP) control. And because the condition requires lifelong treatment, many patients need additional effort from their spouses. The spouse shares intimacy with patient and is the chief source of social support that provides fi nancial assistance, reminds and encourages medication use, shows concern and interest by discussing issues related to the disease. Therefore, exploring the role of perceived spousal social support in medication adherence will help the physician and other stakeholders harness the gains of this association to achieving BP control, prevent complications and death. Objectives: To determine the relationship between Perceived Spousal Social Support (PSSS) and Medication Adherence (MA) among hypertensive patients attending