Abstract
Purpose : To evaluate the association between patient’s knowledge of hypertension management and medication adherence. Methods : A cross-sectional study was undertaken with 385 hypertensive patients who visited outpatient departments in two public hospitals in Quetta City, Pakistan. Besides demographic and disease-related questions, two validated questionnaires (Hypertension Fact Questionnaire and Drug Attitude Inventory) were used for data collection. Descriptive statistics were to determine the demographic and disease characteristics of the patients while Spearman rank correlation was employed to measure the association between knowledge and drug adherence. Results : Out of 385 patients, 236 (61.3 %) of the patients had average knowledge about hypertension while 249 (64.7 %) were categorized as poor adherent. No patient was considered as good adherent in the study. Correlation coefficient between total score of knowledge and total adherence was – 0.170 (p Conclusion : Although the level of knowledge was average, patients were unsure of the benefits of continuous medication use which resulted in non-adherence to regimens. Educating patients about the benefits of medications and clarifying doubts regarding medication use should result in better control of hypertension.
Highlights
Hypertension is a major global concern and is one of the key preventable risk factors for cardiovascular events
Hypertension Fact Questionnaire (HFQ) and DAI-10 were pilot-tested with 40 established hypertensive patients for reliability and validity (Cronbach ά = 0.70 for HFQ and 0.65 for DAI-10)
Poor knowledge was apparent in responses to questions relating to onset and management and dietary control of hypertension where correct answers to these questions were 27.8, 30.4, 13.5, 20.5 and 23.6 %, respectively
Summary
Hypertension is a major global concern and is one of the key preventable risk factors for cardiovascular events. It has massive disturbing impact on the population’s health, resulting in unnecessary morbidity and mortality. Adherence has multiple definitions but the essence remains the same in every statement It is “the extent to which patients stay with the recommendations of health care professionals” [2]. A number of studies highlighted multiple issues in non-adherence, including knowledge about hypertension by patients towards hypertension; the outcomes are not encouraging as far as adherence to medication is concerned [7]
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