Antihypertensive drug persistence and compliance among newly treated elderly hypertensives in ontario.
BACKGROUND
Poor medication-taking behaviors are important considerations in the management of hypertension.


METHODS
We conducted a retrospective cohort study addressing antihypertensive drug persistence and compliance by linking 4 administrative databases and a province-wide clinical database in Ontario, Canada, to derive a cohort of elderly hypertensive patients, aged 66 years or more, who had received a new prescription for an antihypertensive agent between 1997 and 2005 to determine trends across years and associations with drug class and sociodemographic and other factors.


RESULTS
Our cohort consisted of 207,473 patients (58.4% were women, mean age 74.2 years, 73.1% were comorbid-free), 41,236 of whom had diabetes. Persistence and compliance increased between 1997 and 2005 (all P<.02) and were greater in those of higher socioeconomic status but lesser in urban residents (all P<.0001). Persistence was lower in comorbid-free patients and greater in older patients, whereas compliance was lower in older patients and greater in women and comorbid-free patients (all P<.0001). Significant differences between the drug classes emerged with initial prescriptions for all drug classes showing greater therapy and class persistence compared with diuretics (all P<.0001). Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors showed the best therapy persistence and compliance, and beta-blockers showed the worst compliance (all P<.0001).


CONCLUSIONS
Our data provide evidence of an overall improvement in antihypertensive drug compliance and persistence across years, as well as significant differences across drug classes and other patient-level factors. Awareness of such factors could translate into concerted efforts at optimizing medication-taking behaviors among newly diagnosed elderly hypertensive patients.
Friedman
Oded
O
Prosserman Centre for Health Research (Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute, Mount Sinai Hospital), Toronto, Canada. ofriedman@hotmail.com
McAlister
Finlay A
FA
Yun
Lingsong
L
Campbell
Norman R C
NR
Tu
Karen
K
D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000959:Antihypertensive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D055118:Medication Adherence; D009864:Ontario / Q000453:epidemiology; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012737:Sex Factors; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors
D000959:Antihypertensive Agents