Adhesion to antihypertensive drug terapy in primary health care in a medium-sized Brazilian city

The objective of this study was to identify adherence to antihypertensive drug therapy and to associate it with sociodemographic and lifestyle factors. Adherence was determined by the Morisky-Green test and the pacient’s perception of their lifestyle by the Fantastic Lifestyle questionnaire. The questionnaires were applied to 401 hypertensive patients from the 29 Basic Health Units (BHU) of Maringá, Paraná. The association of adherence to therapy with sociodemographic variables and perception of lifestyle was determined by logistic regression. The prevalence of adherence to antihypertensive therapy was 37.7%. The rates of adherence to therapy were lower for single (p=0.0284 *), overweight (p=0.0039*) and obese (p=0.0110*) patients, and for those with BHU return rates greater than six months (p=0.0408*). For females (p=0.0032*) and those who perceived they had a good lifestyle (p=0.035*), the rates of adherence to antihypertensive therapy were higher. The results indicate the importance of biopsychosocial determinants, which should be considered when planning policies, strategies and actions to improve adherence to antihypertensive drug therapies at the local level, and which could also be expanded to regional and national levels.