Predictors of poor medication adherence of older people with hypertension

Abstract

Aims: To explore the risk factors for poor medication adherence in older people with hypertension. Design: A cross-sectional study. Methods: Participants were administered with a self-report questionnaire about their demographic characteristics; additionally, their four-item Morisky Medication Adherence Scale scores were calculated. The STROBE checklist was applied as the reporting guideline for this study (File S1). Results: Univariate analysis indicated that the following five factors were statistically significantly associated with medication adherence: education level (χ2 = 8.073, p =.045), co-living (χ2 = 11.364, p =.010), hypertension complications (χ2 = 10.968, p =.001), admission blood pressure (χ2 = 8.876, p =.003), and falls (χ2 = 6.703, p =.010). Multivariable binary logistic regression analysis showed that there were four statistically significant predictors, such as people who lived with spouses and offspring (OR = 3.004, p =.017), and those who had high admission blood pressure (OR = 1.910, p =.003) had a greater risk of poor medication adherence, whereas those without hypertension complications (OR = 0.591, p =.026) and those without falls (OR = 0.530, p =.046) had a lower risk. Relevance to clinical practice: We believe that these findings contribute to the identification of high-risk people with poor adherence, allowing nurses to identify people with poor adherence in a timely manner, and pay attention to the people's medication.