title: Effect of education through a periodic newsletter on persistence with antihypertensive therapy.
abstract: Sufficient persistence with therapy is important to achieve the desired benefits of antihypertensive therapy. This study was designed to describe the rates of persistence with antihypertensive therapy for 1 year and to assess the effect of patient education by a periodic newsletter on persistence rates in general practice in Japan. Information on 5,324 patients who received the newsletter once a month for 1 year (intervention group; 53.9% of those originally registered) and 666 patients who did not receive the newsletter (control group; 94.3% of those originally registered) was obtained from a physician questionnaire (response rate: 54.3%). The rate of persistence with antihypertensive therapy in the intervention group was similar to that in the control group (91.7% vs. 90.7%, respectively). The patient questionnaire (response rate: 28.2%) indicated that most patients consistently read the newsletter and found it useful in understanding the management of hypertension. The results of this 1-year study showed that about 90% of patients persisted with therapy for 1 year. Although most of them evaluated the newsletter favorably, no clear effect of the newsletter on their persistence with therapy was revealed. However, these results do not rule out a possible effect of education on persistence with therapy over the long-term, and thus there is need of a longer-term study employing follow-up questionnaires.
authors.affiliation: Health Center, Keio University, Tokyo, Japan. saito@hc.cc.keio.ac.jp
authors.forename: Ikuo
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Saito
authors.forename: Takao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Saruta
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000959:Antihypertensive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010349:Patient Compliance; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000379:methods*; D010506:Periodicals as Topic; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
chemical_list: D000959:Antihypertensive Agents