Adherence to antihypertensive treatment during the COVID-19 pandemic: findings from a cross-sectional study

Clinical Hypertension

Research

Luciano Ferreira Drager¹  Giovanio Vieira da Silva¹  Mayra Cristina da Luz Pádua Guimarães²  Camila Braga de Oliveira Higa²  Renata Jae Won Lee²  Carime Farah Flórido²  Angela Maria Geraldo Pierin²  Grazielli Soares Paes²  Juliana Chaves Coelho³  Juliano dos Santos⁴ 

[1] University of São Paulo Medical School, São Paulo, Brazil;University of São Paulo Nursing School, São Paulo, Brazil;University of São Paulo Nursing School, São Paulo, Brazil;Beneficência Portuguesa Hospital in São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil;University of São Paulo Nursing School, São Paulo, Brazil;Cancer Hospital III, National Cancer Institute of Brazil, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil;

关键词: Hypertension;    Adherence;    COVID-19;    Drug treatment;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s40885-022-00219-0

 received in 2021-11-08, accepted in 2022-07-17,  发布年份 2022

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundNonadherence to antihypertensive treatment is one of the main causes of the lack of blood pressure (BP) control. The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic imposes substantial social restriction impairing the medical care routine, which may influence adherence to the antihypertensive treatment. To assess the rate of nonadherence to antihypertensive drug treatment during the COVID-19 pandemic.MethodsThis is a cross-sectional study evaluating hypertensive adult patients from a tertiary outpatient clinic. From March to August 2020, patients were interviewed by telephone during the social distancing period of the COVID-19 pandemic. We evaluated biosocial data, habits, attitudes, and treatment adherence using the 4-item Morisky Green Levine Scale during the social distancing. Uncontrolled BP was defined by BP ≥ 140/90 mmHg. Clinical and prescription variables for drug treatment were obtained from the electronic medical record. We performed a multivariate analysis to determine the predictors of nonadherence to BP treatment.ResultsWe studied 281 patients (age 66 ± 14 years, 60.5% white, 62.3% women, mean education of 9.0 ± 4 years of study). We found that 41.3% of the individuals reported poor adherence to antihypertensive drug treatment and 48.4% had uncontrolled BP. Subsample data identified that adherence was worse during the pandemic than in the previous period. The variables that were independently associated with the nonadherence during the pandemic period were black skin color (odds ratio [OR], 2.62; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.46–4.68), and intermittent lack of access to antihypertensive medication during the pandemic (OR, 2.56; 95% CI, 1.11–5.89).ConclusionsBeyond traditional variables associated with poor adherence, the lack of availability of antihypertensive medications during the study underscore the potential role of pandemic on hypertension burden.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© The Author(s) 2022

【 图 表 】

Fig. 5