BackgroundLack of adherence to pharmacological treatment is one of the main causes of
low control rates in hypertension.ObjectiveTo verify treatment adherence and associated factors, as well as blood
pressure (BP) control in participants of the Resistant Hypertension Optimal
Treatment (ReHOT) clinical trial.MethodCross-sectional study including all 109 patients who had completed the ReHOT
for at least 6 months. We excluded those participants who failed to respond
to the new recruitment after three phone contact attempts. We evaluated the
BP control by ambulatory BP monitoring (ABPM; controlled levels: 24-hour
systolic and diastolic BP < 130 x 80 mmHg) and analyzed the patients'
treatment adherence using the Morisky Medication Adherence Scale (MMAS)
questionnaire validated by Bloch, Melo, and Nogueira (2008). The statistical
analysis was performed with the software IBM SPSS statistics 21.0. We tested
the normality of the data distribution with kurtosis and skewness. The
variables tested in the study are presented with descriptive statistics.
Comparisons between treatment adherence and other variables were performed
with Student's t test for independent variables and Pearson's chi-square or
Fisher's exact test. To conduct analyses among patients considering
adherence to treatment and BP control, we created four groups: G0, G1, G2,
and G3. We considered a 5% significance level in all tests.ResultsDuring the ReHOT, 80% of the patients had good BP control and treatment
adherence. Of 96 patients reevaluated in the present study, only 52.1% had
controlled hypertension when assessed by ABPM, while 31.3% were considered
adherent by the MMAS. Regarding other ABPM measures, we observed an absence
of a nocturnal dip in 64.6% of the patients and a white-coat effect and
false BP control in 23% and 12.5%, respectively. Patients' education level
showed a trend towards being a determinant factor associated with lack of
adherence (p = 0.05). Resistant hypertension and number of medications were
significantly associated with BP control assessed by ABPM (p = 0.009 and p =
0.001, respectively). Resistant hypertension was also significantly
associated with group G0 (patients with no control or adherence, p =
0.012).ConclusionThere was a decrease in BP control and adherence measured by the MMAS after
participation of at least 6 months in the ReHOT clinical trial.