‘’Assessment of Home Blood Pressure Monitoring and Medication Adherence among Hypertensive patients in a Nigerian Hospital: A cross-sectional study’’

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Home blood pressure monitoring (HBPM) is being recognized as inexpensive approach that may improve medication adherence among hypertensives. This study determined the relationship between HBPM and medication adherence among hypertensive patients attending Family Medicine clinic of the Osun State University Teaching Hospital, Osogbo.

METHOD: A cross-sectional design among 300 known hypertensive patients attending Family Medicine clinic of Osun State Teaching Hospital from August to November, 2021. HBPM was determined using evidence of practices of blood pressure monitoring using a digital blood pressure machine at home while medication adherence was assessed using the Morisky 8-item medication adherence questionnaire. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics at p-value < 0.05.

 RESULT: The mean age (±SD) of the respondents was 54.47 (±12.18) years. The level of practice of HBPM was 23.3%. Higher percentage of the respondents (39.8%) that practiced HBPM reported that HBPM reminded them to take their medication while 15.0% of them reported to have skipped their medication when blood pressure was low.  Higher proportion of respondents that were not adherent practiced HBPM while higher proportion of respondents that were adherent did not practice HBPM. This study established no statistically significant relationship between HBPM and medication adherence (p=0.178).

CONCLUSION: There was poor practice of HBPM among the study population. This study shows that HBPM may improve medication adherence by reminding patients of their medication however it may also encourage skipping of prescribed medication. The clinicians should promote the practice of HBPM among hypertensive patients in conjunction with other strategies known to improve medication adherence among hypertensive patient.