Abstract:

Background: Hypertension is a chronic disease which already affects one billion people worldwide, and needs a lifelong therapy with antihypertensives. Adherence to antihypertensive is very important to control hypertension and prevent hypertension related complications. However studies have shown that patients with chronic illness adhere only 50% of their time to medication and the problem is much higher in developing countries.

Study objective: To determine adherence and the association between adherence and belief towards medication among adult hypertensive outpatients at BMC

Study participants: Hypertensive patients aged 18 years and above attending the outpatient cardiovascular clinic.
Material and methods: Cross-sectional study was employed. Non-probability, convenient method of sampling was used to recruit the patient. Pre-designed questionnaires were used to gather information on adherence and patient related beliefs towards their medication. The main outcome was adherence which was measured using the morisky adherence scale-8(MAS-8).

Results: Data was collected from 180 participants. Females accounted for 65% adherence was low in 46% of the studied population. Belief about medication necessity was higher in the high adherent group (p-value 0.026), whereas the belief about medication concern was higher in the low adherent group (p<0.001).

Conclusion: The adherence rate to antihypertensive is 54%; this is low compared to the required level of adherence to antihypertensive medication which is ≥80%. Factors that were predictors of hypertension which are patient related beliefs towards their medication found to have a positive association with adherence. The patients who had higher belief towards medication necessity were found to have higher level of adherence than patients with lower medication necessity. Also the patients who had lower level of medication concern were found to have higher level of adherence compared to patients with higher medication concern.