Adherence to Antihypertensive Medications and Its Determinants in Hypertensive Patients - A Complete Review

Abstract

Hypertension is a global health problem, it causes complications of cardiovascular diseases, stroke, and renal failure leading to early mortality and disability. Adherence to antihypertensive medications helps to control blood pressure levels. WHO defines adherence as ''the extent to which a person's behavior taking medication, following a diet, and / or executing lifestyle changes-corresponds with agreed recommendations from a health care provider. Poor adherence is the major cause of uncontrolled BP. Common barriers to adherence are under the patient's control, so that attention to them is a necessary and important step in improving adherence. The factors driving patients’ adherence to medication are multifactorial, but can be grouped under five main domains including socioeconomic factors, healthcare system related factors, disease related factors, therapy-related factors and patient-related factors. Identifying factors that affect medication adherence is the first step towards improving adherence. This article covers various factors influencing medication non adherence among hypertensive patients. Keywords: Hypertension, medication adherence.