A Study on the Determining Factors for Compliance to Prescribed Medication by Patients with High Blood Pressure

Hypertension is one of the most prevalent chronic diseases. Previous studies showed that non-compliance to medications is the most important reason for poor controlled hypertension. The objective of this study was to determine the factors which associated with non-compliance among hypertensive patients registered in our out-patient clinic. This study was undertaken among selected patients from a total of 532 hypertensive patients attending the health care centre of Shaheed Motahari in Shiraz. A standard interview was conducted with 250 patients who met our study inclusion criteria. The data collection included information about sociodemographic variables, variables related to disease and treatment,and patient's knowledge and attitudes.The result showed that 60.4% of the patients had less than 90 % compliance. Medication compliance was better among patients who were above 50 years old, had insurance coverage, had a good knowledge about hypertension and had positive attitude toward antihypertensive drugs, have taken drugs more than 5 years and interval between their visit to physician was less than 3 months (p<0.05). Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that positive attitude toward antihypertensive drugs and interval between visits to the physician of less than 3 months were two independent predictors of compliance (p<0.01).Patient medication compliance is a multi-factoral behaviour, in which the role of patient's attitude is very important. For assessment the other factors, it is necessary to conduct further researches on patients –physician relationship and the way of providing health care to patients.