Medication Routines and Adherence Among Hypertensive African Americans

Abstract

Poor adherence to prescribed medication regimens remains an important challenge preventing successful treatment of cardiovascular diseases such as hypertension. While studies have documented differences in the time of day or weekday vs weekend on medication adherence, no study has examined whether having a medication-taking routine contributes to increased medication adherence. The purpose of this study was to: (1) identify patients’ sociodemographic factors associated with consistent medication-taking routine; (2) examine associations between medication-taking consistency, medication adherence, and blood pressure (BP) control. The study included black patients with hypertension (n = 190; 22 men and 168 women; age, mean±standard deviation 54 ± 12.08 years) who completed a practice-based randomized controlled trial. Findings showed that medication-taking consistency was significantly associated with better medication adherence (F = 9.54, P = .002). Associations with the consistency index were not statistically significant for diastolic BP control (odds ratio, 1.319; 95% confidence interval, 0.410–4.246; P = .642) and systolic BP control (odds ratio, 0.621; 95% confidence interval, 0.195–1.974; P = .419).

Medication adherence and its associated factors among hypertensive patients attending the Debre Tabor General Hospital, northwest Ethiopia

“…This finding was in line with those of studies done among Africa Americans (77.4%)28 and in northern Ethiopia (73.6%) 29. It was higher than those of studies done in the rural–urban slum areas of Hyderabad (60.6%),30 North India (57.2%),31 Congo-Brazzaville (67.5%),32 a tertiary hospital in Nigeria (44.7%),33 Tikur Anbessa Specialized Hospital in Addis Ababa (69.2%),23 and Adama Referral Hospital in Ethiopia (59.5%) 34.…”

Hypertensive patients’ adherence to pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatment methods, in Turkey

“…8,23,27 In these studies, an increase or decrease in the rate of adherence to the treatment with age may be due to the presence of comorbid chronic diseases, perceived health status, or differences in giving or receiving health care. 7,24 While gender is not a determinant for the rate of adherence to the pharmacological treatment in some studies the adherence rate is high in women in other studies. 8,19 In the present study, although not significant, the rate of adherence was high in women as in the literature.…”

“…Similarly, in some studies in the literature, adherence to pharmacological treatment is not associated with socio-demographic characteristics. 7,21,22,26 On the other hand, some studies have indicated that sociodemographic characteristics such as age, gender, level of education, perceived income status are related to adherence to the pharmacological treatment. 3,21,26 For example, while adherence to treatment increases in some studies as the age increases it decreases in other studies.…”

“…Rates of adherence to pharmacological treatment range between 52% and 87% in studies conducted in Turkey and between 48% and 84% in studies conducted abroad. 7,8,12,15,[19][20][21][22][23][24] The WHO has reported that rates of adherence to pharmacological treatment by hypertension patients vary between 20% and 80%. 25 Thus, it can be concluded that the rate of adherence to pharmacological treatment in this present study conducted in a semi-urban region in Turkey overlaps with the rates reported in the literature.…”

“…2,6 Several studies conducted in countries such as China, Taiwan, Ethiopia and India to assess patients' adherence to medication treatment by using different methods report that adherence rates vary between 48% and 86%, and that non-adherence both to pharmacological and to non-pharmacological treatment methods is the most important obstacle to blood pressure control. [7][8][9][10][11][12][13] Health personnel play a key role in patients' adherence to pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatment methods used for blood pressure control. It is possible to ensure patients' adherence to pharmacological and nonpharmacological treatment methods by monitoring the patient meticulously, determining the factors affecting patients' adherence to the treatment and planning attempts to eliminate these factors.…”