Hypertensive medication adherence status and associated factors among patients attending a hypertensive clinic at Jakaya Kikwete Cardiac Institute, Dares Salaam

Abstract

Background: Effective hypertension control depends on consistent adherence to antihypertensive medications. In Tanzania, little is known about the adherence status to antihypertensive medications and their associated factors. We determined adherence status and associated factors among adult patients attending a hypertensive clinic at a tertiary hospital in Dar es Salaam.
Methods: This was a cross-sectional study. Simple random sampling was used to recruit 379 hypertensive patients who were prescribed one or more regular antihypertensive medications for at least a month. A self-reporting questionnaire was used to measure medication adherence. Data were analyzed using SPSS computer software version 20. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize the data. The associations of variables with medication adherence were determined using the chi-square test and logistic regression.
Results: The proportion of antihypertensive medication adherence among the patients was 55.40%. Use of traditional medicine (AOR=0.08, 95% CI=0.04-0.18), believing that prayers can cure hypertension (AOR=0.15, 95% CI= 0.09-0.27), Having health insurance (AOR=2.97, 95%CI=1.07-8.30) and pharmacy service (AOR=0.57, 95%CI= 0.33-0.98) were significantly associated with adherence to antihypertensive medications.
Conclusion: The study showed that only 55.40% of patients had good adherence to antihypertensive medication, which was observed to be low. Factors such as the use of traditional medicine, believing that prayer can cure hypertension, unsatisfactory experience with pharmacy services, and having no health insurance were significantly associated with poor adherence to antihypertensive medications. To improve hypertension control among patients, healthcare providers and policymakers should address these factors by identifying and implementing workable strategies that are patient.