Assessment of Adherence to Anti-hypertensive Treatment among Patients Attending a Urban Health Care Facility of a Medical College, Tumkur

Abstract

Chronic non-communicable diseases are posing a serious threat to public health throughout the world, irrespective of whether developed and developing and thus deserve to be treated as a global health priority. Hypertension is the leading modifiable risk factor for cardiovascular diseases. Poor compliance to antihypertensive therapies has been linked to a variety of problems, including poor blood pressure control, rehospitalisation and increased healthcare resource utilization. Methodology: This Cross-Sectional study was carried out among all adult hypertensive patients from September to October 2018 visiting Urban Health Training Centre of Sri Siddhartha Medical College. Results: Out of 150 study subjects Majority of them 66 (44%) were having hypertension for 10-15 yrs and least 18 (12%) were having Hypertension for >5 yrs, 81 (54%) were Purchasing drugs from Private sectors and others from Government sector. 30 (20%) were taking 2 tablets per day, 109 (72.7%) were taking 1 tablet per day. 90 (60%) were having Low adherence, 36 (24%) were having Medium adherence and 24 (16%) High adherence for Drugs using Morisky Adherence scale. When we studied association between Adherence to drugs with other Socio-demographic characteristics, we got statistically significant results with Socioeconomic status, residence and Place of Purchase of drugs (P=0.0). Conclusion: Adherence to drugs was found to be low in the present study. The level of adherence to treatment among the participants can be achieved by educating the Patients and creating awareness.