Treatment adherence of Chinese patients with hypertension: A longitudinal study

BackgroundThere is no research concerning treatment adherence and correlated factors using longitudinal design in China.AimThis article investigated the treatment adherence of patients with hypertension and examined determinants of adherence, with a focus on changes of adherence and psychosocial factors over 1 year.MethodsA longitudinal design was adopted to facilitate the survey of patients with hypertension across two time points.ResultsThe results demonstrated that treatment adherence of hypertensive patients improved over 1 year follow-up. The blood pressure values of hypertensive patients decreased at time 2. The regression analysis found that time 1 treatment adherence, social support, education and duration of diagnosis were significant predictors of treatment adherence at time 2, accounting for 26% of the total variance. Time 1 treatment adherence explained 15% of the variance, social support 7%, education 3% and duration of diagnosis 1%.ConclusionsThe effective strategies targeted patients at risk are suggested to be necessary and should be designed according to the factors affecting adherence.