title: Barriers to antihypertensive medication adherence among adults--United States, 2005.
abstract: Antihypertensive agents are one of the most commonly prescribed classes of medications in the country, but patient adherence rates are low. To better understand why rates are low, the authors used data from the 2005 HealthStyles survey and found that among the 1432 respondents who received prescriptions for antihypertensive medications, 407 (28.4%) reported having difficulty taking their medication. "Not remembering'' was the most common reason reported (32.4%), followed by cost (22.6%), having no insurance (22.4%), side effects (12.5%), other reasons (12.3%), not thinking there is any need (9.3%), and having no health care provider (4.7%). In a multivariate model, younger age, lower income, having mental function impairment, and having had a blood pressure check more than 6 months earlier were factors significantly associated with reporting difficulty taking prescribed antihypertensive drugs. Control of hypertension is a significant public health issue, and alleviating barriers to medication adherence should be a major goal toward hypertension management.
authors.affiliation: Division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention, Centers for Disease Prevention and Control, Atlanta, GA, USA.
authors.forename: Lemuel
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Vawter
authors.forename: Xin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Tong
authors.forename: Manik
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gemilyan
authors.forename: Paula W
authors.initials: PW
authors.lastname: Yoon
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000959:Antihypertensive Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000503:physiopathology; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D016017:Odds Ratio; D012307:Risk Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States; D055815:Young Adult; D016903:Drug Monitoring
chemical_list: D000959:Antihypertensive Agents