Abstract

Hypertension (HTN), or high blood pressure (systolic blood pressure >140 mmHg and diastolic blood pressure >90 mmHg) is an overwhelming global challenge which ranks third as a cause of disability-adjusted life-year. Hypertension causes 7.1 million premature deaths each year worldwide and accounts for 13% of all deaths globally. There are effective medical therapies for hypertension management; but the problem of non-adherence to medical treatment remains a challenge for the medical professionals and social scientists. The objective of this study is to assess the magnitude of adherence and factors for non adherence related to anti-hypertensive treatments in hypertensive patients visiting Adama Referral Hospital. An institution based cross-sectional study was conducted at Adama Referral Hospital to assess patient adherence towards antihypertensive therapy. The data was collected by using a pre-tested structured questionnaire after translated to local language, in exit interview method immediately after the patients have got the service, and the collected data was processed and analyzed by using SPSS version 20 computer software. There were 96 respondents during the study period, from 96 respondents 42(43.75%) were males and the rest were females. Among the respondents 33.34% were > 64 years old and 20.83%% were employed. Regarding the educational level larger proportions of respondents can read and write. Among the study population 45.83% of the respondents were orthodox and only 3.12% were others. 29.16% of the respondents had an income of 100-800 Ethiopian birr per month. Majority of respondents were non adherent due to lack of money. It was found that the level of education does not significantly affect knowledge towards adherence. Also majority of patients >64 ages were non adherents to their medication. The overall research finding shows that among 96 respondents of hypertensive patients in Adama Referral Hospital 44(45.8%) were non adherent to the prescribed medication. It was recommended that health professionals must educate hypertensive patients about their disease with specific emphasis on its causes, the severity of the disease, their medications and the consequences of non-adherence with treatment.