Factors Associated with Medication Adherence Behavior among Hypertensive Patients

Abstract

Objective: To assess the medication adherence behavior and investigate factors related to medication adherence behavior of hypertensive patients. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, a sample of 460 patients diagnosed with primary hypertension were recruited through systematic random sampling at Saithongwattana Community Hospital. Data were collected by using questionnaires. Content validity was confirmed by three experts with an index of congruence of 0.94. Reliability of questions of knowledge about hypertension was acceptable with a KR-20 coefficient of 0.77, questions about factors based health belief model, enabling factors, reinforcing factors, and medication adherence was acceptable with Cronbach’s alpha coefficients of 0.66, 0.71, 0.71, and 0.71 respectively. Descriptive statistics and logistic regression analysis were used to determine factors associated with medication adherence behavior. Results: About 40.4% of the participants had medication adherence. Women were 1.81 times more likely to adhere to their medications than men (ORadj. = 1.81, 95% CI: 1.21 to 2.73). Patients aged 60 years or younger were 1.91 times more likely to have medication adherence compared to their counterparts (ORadj. = 1.91, 95% CI: 1.23 to 2.96). Participants with low scores of perceived barriers were more likely to have medication adherence compared to their counterparts (ORadj. = 2.61, 95% CI: 1.62 to 4.19). Conclusion: Medication adherence was found in 40.4% of hypertensive patients, and was associated with age, gender and perceived barriers. Activities to reduce perceived barriers should be created. Keywords: medication adherence, hypertensive patients, perception, enabling factors, reinforcing factors