Predictors of medication adherence in a hypertensive population of Pakistan

Abstract

This study is aimed to explore the predictors of medication adherence in a hypertensive population of Pakistan. A questionnaire-based cross sectional analysis was undertaken. A prevalence based sample of 385 hypertensive patients was selected from two tertiary care hospitals. Hypertension Fact Questionnaire (HFQ) and Drug Attitude Inventory (DAI-10) were used for data collection. The socio demographic and disease related data was also taken into account. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) v 16.0 was used for data analysis. The factors that were significantly associated with adherence were further assessed by binary logistic regression analysis. The statistical significance was set at 0.05. Three hundred and eight five hypertensive patients were approached. The cohort was dominated by males (68.6 %, n = 265) with mean age of 39.02 ± 6.596 years. Out of 385 patients, 236 (61.3 %) of the patients had average knowledge about hypertension while 249 (64.7 %) were categorized as poor adherent. Mean knowledge score was 8.03 ± 0.42 and mean adherence score was -1.74 ± 2.15. The created model shows a significant goodness of fit as the Omnibus Test of Model Coefficient was highly significant (Chi square = 10.983, p = 0.027, df = 4). Knowledge score had significant association (adjusted OR= 1.159, 95 % CI = 1.004-1.339, P < 0.001) with medication adherence. Knowledge towards hypertension shaped as a significant predictor of drug adherence. Patient education must be formalized and acknowledged as an official part of the health care system.