Predictors of poor medication adherence of older people with hypertension

Abstract

Aims: To explore the risk factors for poor medication adherence in older people with hypertension.

Design: A cross-sectional study.

Methods: Participants were administered with a self-report questionnaire about their demographic characteristics; additionally, their four-item Morisky Medication Adherence Scale scores were calculated. The STROBE checklist was applied as the reporting guideline for this study (File S1).

Results: Univariate analysis indicated that the following five factors were statistically significantly associated with medication adherence: education level (χ² = 8.073, p = .045), co-living (χ² = 11.364, p = .010), hypertension complications (χ² = 10.968, p = .001), admission blood pressure (χ² = 8.876, p = .003), and falls (χ² = 6.703, p = .010). Multivariable binary logistic regression analysis showed that there were four statistically significant predictors, such as people who lived with spouses and offspring (OR = 3.004, p = .017), and those who had high admission blood pressure (OR = 1.910, p = .003) had a greater risk of poor medication adherence, whereas those without hypertension complications (OR = 0.591, p = .026) and those without falls (OR = 0.530, p = .046) had a lower risk.

Relevance to clinical practice: We believe that these findings contribute to the identification of high-risk people with poor adherence, allowing nurses to identify people with poor adherence in a timely manner, and pay attention to the people's medication.

Keywords: blood pressure; hypertension; medication adherence; older people; predictors.