Compliance of hypertensive patients with pharmacological treatment.
Failure of compliance with drug treatment is a major problem in all diseases requiring long-term therapy. The incidence of noncompliance is variously reported as between 5% and 60% in well-conducted investigations in hypertensive patients. Direct (objective) methods give a higher incidence of noncompliance than indirect (subjective) methods. Among factors associated with noncompliance, the complexity of the treatment regimen and the nature of the doctor-patient relationship are important; few demographic characters among the patient population can be identified. Improvement of noncompliance depends on understanding these facets of the problem.
D000367:Age Factors; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000187:drug effects; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000523:psychology; D010349:Patient Compliance; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D012737:Sex Factors