Treatment adherence profile of hypertension patients from the Municipal Health Unit of Fátima, City of Belém, Pará, Amazônia, Brazil

Abstract

This article presents a study about treatment adherence in patients with hypertension treated at the Municipal Health Unit of Fátima in Belém, Pará, Brazil. Between September 2008 and October 2008, we interviewed one hundred patients utilizing a modified version of the measurement of treatment adherence, an assessment that uses a Likert scale to measure levels of adherence to pharmacological treatment. We also obtained data concerning variables that are potentially related to levels of adherence, such as socioeconomic factors, health teams and service, disease severity, treatment and patient-related factors and investigated secondary data from the medical records. Data obtained were plotted in the Microsoft Office Excel 2003^® program for analysis. Of the sample, 45% were classified as having "high adherence", and 55% were classified as having "low adherence". The majority of the sample were of female gender (68%), were between the age of 61 and 75 (60%), had low levels of education (76%), were married (51%), were of pardo race (54%), were retired (72%) and earned minimum wage (76%). Regarding possible causes for lack of treatment compliance, we identified the following variables: "classification of blood pressure according to treatment", "number of medications used to treat hypertension", "medication side effects" and "association with other diseases". Several strategies have been identified to minimize low levels of adherence; however, these often occur in an isolated and unidimensional manner. A multi-focal, multi-professional approach is fundamental for the therapeutic success of these patients.