Abstract
Hypertension is one of the major risk factors for coronary heart disease, stroke, heart failure, and end-stage renal disease and remains the main public health challenge. In Africa, 15% of the population has hypertension [1]. According to the data from Health Information Management System (HIMS) of Eritrea the incidence of hypertension in Eritrea was 8305 in 2014. Poor adherence towards antihypertensive medication is the main problem of treatment failure and wastage of health care resource which leads to increased morbidity and mortality rate among hypertensive patients [2]. The aim of the study is to assess patient’s adherence level towards antihypertensive medication and their life style modification in Halibet and Hazhaz Hospitals. This is Hospital based cross-sectional quantitative study. Sample size was determined using Krejcie & Morgan formula. The sample size was 360. Sample of 360 was collected by consecutive non probability method by approaching the patients during their follow up time those who fulfill the inclusion criteria. Pilot study was done in Halibet hospital. Morisky medication adherence scale was used to assess medication adherence rate. Data was entered and analyzed using statistics package for social sciences version 20. <i>P-value</i> < 0.05 was considered as statistically significant. The ethical issue was dealt by obtaining a permission letter from the School of Nursing and given to the medical directors of both hospitals. The adherence rate of the respondents towards medication was 69.2%. Among the respondents 71.7% had good adherence towards life style modification. Most of the participants were found to be adherent to their medication and life style modification that is 69.2% &71.7% respectively. Systolic and diastolic blood pressure was negatively associate with medication adherence at p- value=0.004 and 0.002 respectively. Age was significantly associated (p-value=0.000) with adherence to lifestyle modification. Recommendation health education should be given routinely to improve the rate of adherence toward their medication and life style modification by improving patient’s knowledge and perception about hypertension and its consequence.
Highlights
Hypertension is defined as having persistent, elevated systolic blood pressure of 140 mmHg or above and/or diastolic blood pressure of 90 mmHg or above
Successful treatment of hypertension is important in reducing morbidity and mortality, as well as in controlling health care costs associated with these conditions [3]
Adherence is an important tool that can increase treatment effectiveness, literature has shown that the rate of adherence in chronic disease like hypertension is very low and it is the main problem in the management of diseases which require long-term treatment like hypertensions
Summary
Hypertension is defined as having persistent, elevated systolic blood pressure of 140 mmHg or above and/or diastolic blood pressure of 90 mmHg or above. Successful treatment of hypertension is important in reducing morbidity and mortality, as well as in controlling health care costs associated with these conditions [3]. [4] Uncontrolled hypertension is mainly caused by nonadherence to the antihypertensive drugs. Medication adherence is defined as “the extent to which the medication-taking behavior of a patient corresponds with agreed recommendations from a health care provider. Patients understanding their drug regimens help to improve their adherence will help prevent the complications of hypertension [5] Poor adherence to medications is widespread especially in the treatment of chronic conditions such as hypertension leading to poor health outcomes and huge medical spending on drug-related morbidity.
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