Compliance to Antihypertensive Therapies among Outpatients in a Hypertension Clinic

Abstract

Many studies have shown that failure in the conlTol of hypertension
with oral antjhypertensivescould be associated with noncompliance. The present study
was conducted to assess the compliance rate to antihypertensive therapies and also to
detennine factors related to any noncompliance. The study was conducted in a leaching
hospital in Kuala Lumpur. Data was collected from patients' medical re<:ords and via
personal interview using a structured questionnaire.
Out of a total of175 respondents recruited in the study, 49.1% missed alleast a dose of
their antihypertensive agents during a one'month period. The most common reason
given by respondents who were not compliant to their antihypertensive therapies was
forgetfulness (91.8%), followed by too busy (20.0%) and insufficient medication
supplied to them (18.8%). None of the factors analysed, including the demography of
the respondents, their knowledge about hypertension and the types of antihypertensive
therapies they were on, had any statistically significant influence on the compliance
behaviour of the respondents to their anti.hypertensive therapies. However, more than
80% of the respondents kept their appointment to see their doctor and only this factor
appeared to be related to the medication compliance behaviour although it still did
not reach any statistical significance.