Medication adherence in hypertensive patients of different cardiovascular risk treated in primary health care.
BACKGROUND
The execution of the dosing regimen in Polish primary health care is unknown. The aim of the study was to appraise the medication adherence in patients with hypertension of various cardiovascular risk.


METHODS
A prospective interviewer questionnaire-based study included 1,467 consecutive patients with arterial hypertension with the pharmacotherapy containing ramipril in the daily dose of 10 mg. The mean observation period was 30.3 +/- 7.0 days (20-56 days). At the followup visit the study participants filled the Morisky-Green test appraising the medication non-adherence.


RESULTS
As many as 60.9% of the study participants have ever forgotten to take their medicine, 60.7% are sometimes neglectful in regard to their medicine hours, 32.4% skip their medicine hours when they are feeling well and 37.4% skip the drugs when they feel badly due to the medicine. Drug adherence was observed in 26.0% of patients. The level of adherence varied between different cardiovascular risk groups and was higher in the groups of lower cardiovacular risk. A very weak correlation between cardiovascular risk level and non-adherence to medication assessed with Morisky-Green scale was observed (r = 0.078, p = 0.047). No relation of non-compliance to medication to age and gender was noted.


CONCLUSIONS
Drug adherence in patients with hypertension treated in Polish primary healthcare is very low regardless of the cardiovascular risk level.
1 Oddzial Kliniczny Kardiologii i Elektrokardiologii Interwencyjnej oraz Nadciśnienia Tetniczego, Szpital Uniwersytecki w Krakowie 31-501 Krakow, ul. Kopernika 17. putamen@interia.pl
Jerzy
J
Wiliński
Mikołaj
M
Dabrowski
D000959:Antihypertensive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010349:Patient Compliance; D011044:Poland / Q000453:epidemiology; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D017257:Ramipril / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D012307:Risk Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016903:Drug Monitoring
D000959:Antihypertensive Agents; D017257:Ramipril