Patient and Physician Adherence in Hypertension Management

Improved Blood Pressure Control Using an Interactive Mobile Phone Support System

“…By far, the most studied factor is poor patient adherence to medication . Adherence‐related research has to date mainly focused on describing and discussing the problem and addressed the barriers to and measures for improving poor adherence to medication intake . Nonetheless, current clinical practice guidelines for hypertension management advocate not only antihypertensive medication, but also lifestyle modifications, education, and self‐management support .…”

American Society of Hypertension Scientific Statements Addressing Resistant Hypertension

“…The paper's discussion of specific therapeutic regimen recommendations includes the following points: Secondary forms of hypertension (eg, primary aldosteronism, renal vascular disease, and volume excess syndromes) and pseudo‐RH (eg, medication nonadherence and white‐coat hypertension) must be excluded. Switching standard thiazide diuretics to chlorthalidone or to a long‐acting loop diuretic, eg, torsemide, may be effective for patients with RH who present with clinical evidence of volume excess. Aldosterone antagonists (eplerenone and spironolactone) may also be more successful than a renin‐angiotensin system blocker for patients who do not have overt volume overload but have evidence of low renin status and/or salt sensitivity Adding spironolactone to ineffective antihypertensive regimens can be effective, but its use is limited by tolerability issues in some patients because of development of hyperkalemia, particularly when renal insufficiency is present or when added to another renin‐angiotensin‐aldosterone system blocker .…”

Hypertension Guidances Published in 2013: A Busy Year With More to Follow

“…One of these is physician adherence to the prescribing recommendations in whichever guideline(s) they choose to read. Physician adherence is far from optimal in numerous geographic regions, and therapeutic inertia is widely discussed in the literature . Another is patient adherence to prescribed treatment regimens .…”

“…Physician adherence is far from optimal in numerous geographic regions, and therapeutic inertia is widely discussed in the literature. [38][39][40][41][42][43][44] Another is patient adherence to prescribed treatment regimens. 38,45 Addressing both via educational initiatives should be a priority for all professional societies in the field of hypertension, both for treatment-resistant hypertension and for all other categories of hypertension.…”