Abstract:
Background: Hypertension is an important public health challenge worldwide and defined as
systolic blood pressure (SBP) greater than or equal to 140 mm Hg and a diastolic blood pressure
(DBP) greater than or equal to 90 mm Hg. Uncontrolled hypertension can occur due to nonadherence to medication or dietary regimen. Different factors contribute to the non-adherence
behavior of the patients. The aim of this study was to identify predictors of adherence to
antihypertensive medication among hypertensive adults on follow up in Jimma University
Specialized Hospital, South West Ethiopia, 2016
Methods: Institution based case control study was conducted in JUSH on 488 hypertensive adults
from March- April, 2016. Cases and controls were selected by the Morisky Medication Adherence
Scale (MMAS). Cases were those patients who score MMAS 80% and above and controls were
those patients who score MMAS less than 80%. Consecutive sampling method was used to select
the participants. A structured and pretested questionnaire was used. Data was entered into Epidata
version 3.1 then exported to Stata version 13 for analysis. Frequency distributions table was used
to summarize the data. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was used to identify predictors,
of adherence to anti-hypertensive medication.
Results: The number of cases and controls who participated in the study was 232 and 220 with
response rate of 95% and 90% respectively. Fifty percent (50.0%) of the cases and 28.6% of the
controls were adherent to life style modification. Factors significantly associated with adherence
were educational status primary (AOR=3.9, 95% CI: 2.2-6.8), secondary (AOR= 5.9, 95% CI: 2.2-
16.3), higher (AOR=8.4, 95% CI: 2.8-25.6) and knowledge about hypertension treatment (AOR=
5.0 95% CI: 2.7-9.1).
Conclusion and recommendation: In this study predictors of adherence to antihypertensive
medication were educational status and knowledge about hypertension treatment. Therefore health
care providers should advise the patients on the importance of complying with hypertensive
medications, the consequences of non-compliance with treatment and the disadvantage of skipping
the dose.
