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COSMO: Hypertension medication adherence lower in elderly, blacks
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In a cohort of older patients aged 65 years or older, adherence to hypertension medication regimens varied along racial lines, with blacks more likely than whites to use alternative therapy or lifestyle modifications, according to Marie A. Krousel-Wood, MD, assistant dean of the Tulane University School of Medicine.
“Despite the fact that there have been about 50 years of research looking at adherence, particularly among hypertensives, there is still a lack of understanding of which patients are at greatest risk for low adherence, of how various factors influence low medication adherence and of what interventions might be most effective at improving adherence rates in different populations,” she said.
In the study, Krousel-Wood and colleagues enrolled 2,194 patients with hypertension (58.5% women) from Southeastern Louisiana. Using the Morisky Medication Adherence Score, the researchers determined that adherence in whites differed from blacks at low (12.3% vs. 18.4%, P<.01), medium (33.3% vs. 36.3%, P<.01) and high (54.5% vs. 45.4%, P<.01) adherence levels.
“We know that blacks are more likely than whites to use at least two or more lifestyle modifications or to use alternative therapies to control their BP,” Krousel-Wood said. “We also saw protective effects of lifestyle modification and negative effects of alternative therapy use on low medication adherence, particularly within the black population. Identifying these differences in populations might be useful for addressing low medication adherence in outpatient settings in more specific populations.” – by Eric Raible
For more information:
- Krousel-Wood MA. COSMO: low medication adherence and use of lifestyle modifications and alternative therapies among black and white hypertensive adults. Presented at: ASH 2008.