What Sociodemographic Factors and Other Important Variables Affect Medication Compliance among Hypertensive Patients 50 Years Old and Above?

hypertension;patient knowledge;non-compliance;School of Health Professions and Studies: Nursing

Smith, Maria VictoriaFlint ;

University of Michigan

关键词: hypertension;    patient knowledge;    non-compliance;    School of Health Professions and Studies: Nursing;   

Others  :  https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/117751/SmithMV.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

瑞士|英语

来源: The Illinois Digital Environment for Access to Learning and Scholarship

【 摘 要 】

One of the most prevalent chronic disease is hypertension. Research has shown that medication non-compliance is the most reason for poorly controlled hypertension. The objective of this study was to evaluate the socio-demographic and other important variables which may be contributing factors about why patients ages 50 years or older chose not to comply with their mediction regime to manage their blood pressure. Non-compliance was defined as ;;the extent to which a person;;s behavior does not coincide with medical or health advice;; (Blackwell & Gutman, 1985,p 453).

A quantitative, descriptive study was conducted using a convenience sample. Participants were among the 160 hypertensive patients attending Dr. Jose Lopez’s primary care clinic in Burton, Michigan. After receiving approval from the Institutional Review Board at UM -Flint, a sample o f 30 individuals was drawn from those who met inclusion criteria of 50 years or older, hypertension diagnosis and signed consent form. Data were collected from the 6th of March 2006 through the 3rd of April 2006 using a survey questionnaire developed by the researcher. Data included socio-demographic variables and other variables related to compliance.

Analysis of the data utilized Kendall’s tau, Mann-Whitney U and logistic regression to investigate which variables affected medication compliance. Results revealed there were no significant relationships between some of the demographic variables (age and employment) and the extent to which respondents reported taking blood pressure (BP) medications as prescribed. Health insurance prevented patients with lower incomes from obtaining medications on time. The relationship between agreement that lack of health insurance prevents getting medications and income leve had a negative correlation coefficient (r = -.466, p = .003). Gender (female) related to reports that taking BP medication was important to their health (r = .377, p = .031). Knowledge of bad side effects of not taking BP medication and doctor’s advice to stay away from salty foods revealed no significant finding when correlated with demographic variables. However, doctors advice about salty foods was related to more self-reported knowledge about BP medications was related to reported knowledge about BP medications (r = .488,p = .006).

Hypertension is on the rise in America as is a greater risk for cardiovascular events such as stroke or myocardial infarction. The ultimate goal is to prevent these events and other organ damage from occurring. Knowing current treatment guidelines, understanding the different pathophysiological process and factors affecting medication non-compliance is fundamental.

It is an important role o f the nurse practitioner in medical practice to teach and encourage patients about hypertension. The vast knowledge and experience of a skilled nurse practitioner should be conveyed to their patients in a simple, easy to understand format. Expanding a patient’s knowledge about their disease process and treatment will result in increase compliance and improved health outcomes.