Adherence to antihypertensive medication and its correlates among individuals with hypertension in a Semi-Urban community of Southern Nigeria

Consistent control of blood pressure requires that patients with hypertension follow medication regimen and lifestyle modification. However, many patients fail to adhere to treatment recommendations resulting in less than optimal treatment. While most studies have focused on medication adherence and its associations among hypertensive patients seen in the hospital setting, little is known about this in the community. Knowledge of this will aid clinicians and health policy makers in designing community-based intervention programme to improve medication adherence in the populace. A cross-sectional communitybased study carried out among individuals known to be hypertensive for more than 3 months and on antihypertensive medications. Modified version of the hypertension fact questionnaire and the 8-item Morisky Medication Assessment Scale was used to assess knowledge and adherence to medication respectively. Complete data was available for 252 participants. This included 143 (56.7%) males and 109 (43.3%) females with a mean age of 56.6 ± 12.7 years. Blood pressure control was optimal in 33%, good knowledge of hypertension was found in 52% while only 31.8% were adherent to prescribed medications. Duration of hypertension from time of diagnosis, systolic and diastolic blood pressures and total number of pills swallowed per time were found to independently correlate with medication adherence, albeit negatively. Education program and use of single pill combination regimen can be effective in promoting adherence to medication in our population.