Prevalence and Correlates of Low Medication Adherence in Apparent Treatment-Resistant Hypertension

Abstract

Low medication adherence may explain part of the high prevalence of apparent treatment-resistant hypertension (aTRH). The authors assessed medication adherence and aTRH among 4026 participants taking ≥3 classes of antihypertensive medication in the population-based Reasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke (REGARDS) trial using the 4-item Morisky Medication Adherence Scale (MMAS). Low adherence was defined as an MMAS score ≥2. Overall, 66% of participants taking ≥3 classes of antihypertensive medication had aTRH. Perfect adherence on the MMAS was reported by 67.8% and 70.9% of participants with and without aTRH, respectively. Low adherence was present among 8.1% of participants with aTRH and 5.0% of those without aTRH (P