ABSTRACT
Background: High adherence to antihypertensive medications is most important to achieve effective control of blood pressure, to prevent hypertension-related complications and improve quality of life.
Objectives: To determine patient’s level of adherence and factors affecting adherence to antihypertensive medications.
Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in two community Pharmacies in Benin City. Three hundred and three hypertension patients were administered a pretested and validated questionnaire. The questionnaire included information on socio-demographic characteristics and medication regimen adherence (composed of 8-items). Data were analyzed for descriptive and inferential statistics using SPSS version 20. P< 0.05 was considered statistically significant.
Result: Out of the 303 patients, 165(54.5%) were female, 183(60.4%) had tertiary education, 198(65.3%) were non-alcoholic and 231(76.3%) were married. More than half of the participants (54.5%) were adherent to their medications, 105(64.8%) participants over the age of 50years, 114(62.3%) of those with tertiary education and 75(71.4%) civil servants were adherent to the medications. Forty percent of participants forget to take their medications and 129(42.06%) rarely stop taking their medication because they feel worse. Out of the total number of participants, 117 were on one antihypertensive medication. Adherence was achieved by 50% and 62.5% of participants on one and two medications, respectively.
Conclusion: Moderate level of adherence was reported. Age, educational level, occupation, forgetfulness and feeling of getting worse affected the level of adherence.
KEYWORDS: Hypertension, Anti-hypertensive Medication and Adherence
