A study of some of the factors affecting drug compliance in the hypertensive patient

Hypertension is a major public health problem in the United States today. It is one of the most important afflictions producing illness, disability and premature death in our adult population. Hypertension is a disease that may not exhibit any symptoms, for which there is probably no cure, and the treatment of which may temporarily make the patient feel worse. The patient must be convinced, therefore, that the treatment of hypertension, if maintained, has the demonstrated potential of providing additional years of productive living. The present study was conducted to compare some of the factors which may affect drug compliance in the hypertensive patient. The factors which were studied included age of the patient, race of the patient, number of drugs prescribed per patient day, number of doses prescribed per patient day, and pharmacy counseling. Blood pressure readings were recorded to note the effect of drug compliance on blood pressure. In order to measure drug compliance, the patient was visited twice at his home where a medication count and an average of three blood pressure readings were recorded. These two visits consisted of a first home visit which was 14 ±3 days after the clinic visit and a second home visit which was 28 ±3 days after the clinic visit. [...]