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
. 2016 Dec 7:11:1781-1790.
doi: 10.2147/CIA.S113994. eCollection 2016.

The influence of frailty syndrome on medication adherence among elderly patients with hypertension

Beata Jankowska-Polańska  1 , Krzysztof Dudek  2 , Anna Szymanska-Chabowska  3 , Izabella Uchmanowicz  1
Affiliations

The influence of frailty syndrome on medication adherence among elderly patients with hypertension

Beata Jankowska-Polańska et al. Clin Interv Aging. .

Abstract

Background: Hypertension affects about 80% of people older than 80 years; however, diagnosis and treatment are difficult because about 55% of them do not adhere to treatment recommendations due to low socioeconomic status, comorbidities, age, physical limitations, and frailty syndrome.

Aims: The purposes of this study were to evaluate the influence of frailty on medication adherence among elderly hypertensive patients and to assess whether other factors influence adherence in this group of patients.

Methods and results: The study included 296 patients (mean age 68.8±8.0) divided into frail (n=198) and non-frail (n=98) groups. The Polish versions of the Tilburg Frailty Indicator (TFI) for frailty assessment and 8-item Morisky Medication Adherence Scale for adherence assessment were used. The frail patients had lower medication adherence in comparison to the non-frail subjects (6.60±1.89 vs 7.11±1.42; P=0.028). Spearman's rank correlation coefficients showed that significant determinants with negative influence on the level of adherence were physical (rho =-0.117), psychological (rho =-0.183), and social domain (rho =-0.163) of TFI as well as the total score of the questionnaire (rho =-0.183). However, multiple regression analysis revealed that only knowledge about complications of untreated hypertension (β=0.395) and satisfaction with the home environment (β=0.897) were found to be independent stimulants of adherence level.

Conclusion: Frailty is highly prevalent among elderly hypertensive patients. Higher level of frailty among elderly patients can be considered as a determinant of lower adherence. However, social support and knowledge about complications of untreated hypertension are the most important independent determinants of adherence to pharmacological treatment.

Keywords: ageing; frailty syndrome; geriatric syndrome; hypertension; medication adherence.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.

References

    1. Chobanian AV, Bakris GL, Black HR, et al. The Seventh Report of the Joint National Committee on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure: the JNC 7 report. JAMA. 2003;289(19):2560–2572. - PubMed
    1. Kocelak P, Olszanecka-Glinianowicz M, Owczarek A, et al. Plasma visfatin/nicotinamide phosphoribosyltransferase levels in hypertensive elderly – results from the PolSenior substudy. J Am Soc Hypertens. 2015;9(1):1–8. - PubMed
    1. Tykarski A, Narkiewicz K, Gaciong Z, et al. 2015 guidelines for the management of hypertension. Recommendation of the Polish Society of Hypertension – short version. Kardiol Pol. 2015;73(8):676–700. - PubMed
    1. Grodzicki T, Narkiewicz K. New guidelines for the management of arterial hypertension – VII report of Joint National Committee and the guidelines of the European Society of Hypertension – European Society of Cardiology. Arterial Hypertension. 2003;7(2):99–104.
    1. Mancia G, Fagard R, Narkiewicz R, et al. 2013 ESH/ESC guidelines for the management of arterial hypertension: the Task Force for the management of arterial hypertension of the European Society of Hypertension (ESH) and of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) J Hypertension. 2013;31(7):1281–1357. - PubMed

MeSH terms

Substances