title: Adherence to antihypertensive medications: is prescribing the right pill enough?
abstract: Significant progress has been made in the management of hypertension (HTN) in the last 60 years. A large number of antihypertensive drugs (AHD) is available for effective control of elevated blood pressure (BP) that were also shown to be beneficial in improving all-cause mortality and cardiovascular morbidity in hypertensive individuals. Despite these successes, rates of BP control and outcomes in hypertensive patients remain suboptimal. Therefore, the availability of effective drug therapy itself appears to be insufficient to guarantee desirable results. Adherence to antihypertensive medications is a crucial mediator of favorable outcomes in treating HTN, and non-adherence, in turn, halts BP control. In this review, we will summarize the available evidence on health-related impacts of adherence to AHD, methods for the evaluation of adherence and potential interventions aimed to improve adherence in hypertensive individuals.
authors.affiliation: Nephrology Division, Department of Medicine, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, TN, USA.
authors.forename: Elvira O
authors.initials: EO
authors.lastname: Gosmanova
authors.affiliation: Nephrology Division, Department of Medicine, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, TN, USA Nephrology Section, Memphis Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Memphis, TN, USA.
authors.forename: Csaba P
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Kovesdy
mesh_terms: D000959:Antihypertensive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D011307:Drug Prescriptions; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000188:drug therapy*; D010349:Patient Compliance / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011788:Quality of Life; D016903:Drug Monitoring
chemical_list: D000959:Antihypertensive Agents
keywords: adherence; antihypertensive drugs; compliance