Medication Adherence and Blood Pressure Control Among Hypertensive Outpatients Attending a Tertiary Cardiovascular Hospital in Tanzania: A Cross-Sectional Study.
Integr Blood Press Control 2022;
15:97-112. [PMID:
35991354 PMCID:
PMC9390787 DOI:
10.2147/ibpc.s374674]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/23/2022] [Accepted: 07/08/2022] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Background
Notwithstanding the availability of effective treatments, asymptomatic nature and the interminable treatment length, adherence to medication remains a substantial challenge among patients with hypertension. Suboptimal adherence to BP-lowering agents is a growing global concern that is associated with the substantial worsening of disease, increased service utilization and health-care cost escalation. This study aimed to explore medication adherence and its associated factors among hypertension outpatients attending a tertiary-level cardiovascular hospital in Tanzania.
Methods
The pill count adherence ratio (PCAR) was used to compute adherence rate. In descriptive analyses, adherence was dichotomized and consumption of less than 80% of the prescribed medications was used to denote poor adherence. Logistic regression analyses was used to determine factors associated with adherence.
Results
A total of 849 outpatients taking antihypertensive drugs for ≥1 month prior to recruitment were randomly enrolled in this study. The mean age was 59.9 years and about two-thirds were females. Overall, a total of 653 (76.9%) participants had good adherence and 367 (43.2%) had their blood pressure controlled. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed; lack of a health insurance (OR 0.5, 95% CI 0.3–0.7, p<0.01), last BP measurement >1 week (OR 0.6, 95% CI 0.4–0.8, p<0.01), last clinic attendance >1 month (OR 0.4, 95% CI 0.3–0.6, p<0.001), frequent unavailability of drugs (OR 0.6, 95% CI 0.3–0.9, p = 0.03), running out of medication before the next appointment (OR 0.6, 95% CI 0.4–0.9, p = 0.01) and stopping medications when asymptomatic (OR 0.6, 95% CI 0.4–0.8, p<0.001) to be independent associated factors for poor adherence.
Conclusion
A substantial proportion of hypertensive outpatients in this tertiary-level setting had good medication adherence. Nonetheless, observed suboptimal blood pressure control regardless of a fairly satisfactory adherence rate suggests that lifestyle modification plays a central role in hypertension management.
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