Assessment of Medication Adherence among Patients with Chronic Hypertension in Pakistan
Abstract
Background: Chronic uncontrolled hypertension carries long-term implications for morbidity and mortality, with sustained elevated blood pressure levels precipitating irreversible organ damage to critical systems. Poor medication adherence is one of the leading factors related to uncontrolled hypertension.
Objective: This study was carried out for determining medication adherence and factors related to adherence among patients with chronic hypertension.
Methods: It was a community based cross-sectional study involving 266 hypertensive patients selected using non probability convenience sampling technique. Following informed consent information was obtained via google forms using a pre-tested questionnaire (Cronbach alpha = 0.83) having two sections. The first section was related to sociodemographic details of the patients and the second section was based on Morisky medication adherence scale (MMAS-8). The software used for analysis was SPSS version 24. Qualitative variables were summarized as frequency/ percentage. Chi-square test was used as test of significance. p value < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.
Results: It was found that majority of the patients 189(71%) were females. Most 242(91.9%) study participants belonged to middle socio economic class. Only 14% of the study population was found to be adequately adherent to their medication. The adherence was found to be significantly related to age (p = 0.00) and education (p = 0.00) of respondents.
Conclusion: The medication adherence was found to be low with only 14% patients having adequate adherence to medication and 86% of patients having poor adherence to prescribed treatment .This is a grave situation as consequences of non-adherence are profound, extending beyond individual health outcomes to encompass broader societal and economic impacts. All efforts should be made towards maximizing adherence and empowering patients to manage their hypertension effectively, thereby mitigating the surging consequences of non-adherence on their individual wellbeing and overall public health.
