Evaluation of medication adherence in patients with hypertension

Objective: Blood pressure control rates in hypertension patients are not at the desired levels and one of the most important reasons for not providing blood pressure control is drug incompatibility. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the knowledge level of patients diagnosed with hypertension, who applied to family medicine and hypertension clinic, and the factors affecting drug compliance and treatment compliance. Materials and Methods: The population of our study consists of hypertension patients older than 18 years of age, who applied to the Family Medicine or Hypertension Polyclinics of Duzce University Research and Application Hospital between 22.10.2022 and 11.02.2023 and received antihypertensive treatment for at least 1 year. Sociodemographic data questionnaire, hypertension knowledge level scale (HK-LS) and medication adherence reporting scale (MARS), which we created by scanning the literature, were applied to the patients participating in the study. Blood pressure measurements were made 3 times at least 2 minutes apart. Results: In the study, 357 hypertension patients were included. The mean age of the participants was 56.7±11.8 years, %53.5 female and %46.5 male. The mean HK-LS scale of the patients was 17.8±2.7, the median was 19, the mean of the MARS was 22.7±3.4, and the median was 24. The proportion of patients whose blood pressure was in the target range was %44.3, while those that were not in the target range were %55.7. There was a significant positive correlation between the hypertension knowledge scale and the medication adherence reporting scale (r=0.194, p<0.001). Those whose blood pressure control ratio was within the target range were significantly higher than those who did not have HK-LS and MARS scores (p=0.017, p=0.001). Conclusion: In our study, we found that as the level of knowledge of the patients increased, their adherence to treatment and blood pressure control rates increased. As treatment compliance increased, patient's blood pressure control increased. Patients should be given sufficient time during the controls to increase their knowledge about hypertension and their drug compliance should be questioned.