Blood tests show antihypertension non-adherence rates
Monday May 22nd, 2017
Prescribing multiple anti-hypertensive drugs significantly increases the risk of non-adherence, according to a Manchester based study.
The
researchers at Manchester University, UK, studied patients in the UK and
the Czech Republic to identify the extent of non-adherence.
The technique involved analysis of blood and urine samples rather than relying on patient reporting of adherence.
The concluded that more than 40% of British and 30% of Czech patients were failing to take all their prescriptions.
And the rate of non-adherence nearly doubled for every additional prescription - increasing by 85% per prescription in the UK and 77% in the Czech Republic.
The findings have been reported in the journal Hypertension.
Researcher Professor Maciej Tomaszewski from Manchester, said: "We suspected that some patients haven't been taking their medications on a regular basis but this analysis shows how high that figure is.
"Clearly, the more blood pressure lowering drugs are prescribed, the higher the risk that the patients will not be taking them on a regular basis. We also showed that diuretics are particularly poorly taken."
Risk factors for nonadherence to antihypertensive treatment. Hypertension 1 May 2017 [abstract]
Tags: Heart Health | Pharmaceuticals | UK News
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