Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2015 Jul 30;7(4):e29863.
doi: 10.5812/numonthly.29863. eCollection 2015 Jul.

Adherence to Antihypertensives in Patients With Comorbid Condition

Zahra Saadat  1 , Farahnaz Nikdoust  2 , Hossein Aerab-Sheibani  3 , Mostafa Bahremand  4 , Elham Shobeiri  5 , Habibollah Saadat  1 , Yashar Moharramzad  1 , Donald E Morisky  6
Affiliations

Adherence to Antihypertensives in Patients With Comorbid Condition

Zahra Saadat et al. Nephrourol Mon. .

Abstract

Background: Comorbidity has been noted as a potential barrier to proper adherence to antihypertensive medications.

Objectives: We decided to investigate whether comorbidity could significantly affect adherence of Iranian patients with hypertension to their medication regimen.

Patients and methods: Two hundred and eighty consecutive hypertensive patients were interviewed in 4 cities of Iran. The 8-item Morisky medication adherence scale (MMAS-8) (validated in Persian) was used to assess medication adherence. This scale determines adherence by scores as lower than 6 (low adherence), 6 or 7 (moderate adherence), and 8 (high adherence). Comorbidity was considered as any concomitant medical condition, which necessitates the patient to take medicine for a minimum of 6 months prior to the interviews.

Results: The most common comorbid conditions were ischemic heart disease (65 patients, 23.2%), diabetes mellitus (55 patients, 19.6%), and dyslipidemia (51 patients, 18.2%). Mean (± SD) MMAS-8 score in comorbid group was 5.68 (± 1.85) and in non-comorbid hypertensive patients, it was 5.83 (± 1.91) (P = 0.631). Mean (± SD) number of comorbidities was 1.53 (± 0.75) in low adherence group compared to 1.54 (± 0.77) in moderate/high adherers (P = 0.98). With increasing the number of comorbid diseases, the proportion of patients with high adherence decreased successively from 20% in those with no comorbid disease to 14.1% in those with one or two comorbid conditions, and finally 11.1% in those with 3 to 5 comorbid conditions.

Conclusions: With increasing the number of comorbid conditions, the proportion of patients with high adherence decreases. In our opinion, this finding is a useful clinical note for healthcare providers when managing patients with hypertension who have other medical problems at the same time.

Keywords: Antihypertensive agents; Comorbidity; Hypertension; Iran; Medication adherence.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.. Antihypertensive Adherence Level (Low, Moderate, and High) and Number of Comorbid Conditions
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Osterberg L, Blaschke T. Adherence to medication. N Engl J Med. 2005;353(5):487–97. doi: 10.1056/NEJMra050100. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Delamater AM. Improving patient adherence. Clin Diabetes. 2006;24(2):71–7.
    1. Carretero OA, Oparil S. Essential hypertension : part II: treatment. Circulation. 2000;101(4):446–53. - PubMed
    1. Krousel-Wood M, Islam T, Muntner P, Holt E, Joyce C, Morisky DE, et al. Association of depression with antihypertensive medication adherence in older adults: cross-sectional and longitudinal findings from CoSMO. Ann Behav Med. 2010;40(3):248–57. doi: 10.1007/s12160-010-9217-1. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Ghembaza MA, Senoussaoui Y, Tani MK, Meguenni K. Impact of patient knowledge of hypertension complications on adherence to antihypertensive therapy. Curr Hypertens Rev. 2014;10(1):41–8. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources