Medication Routines and Adherence Among Hypertensive African Americans

Poor adherence to prescribed medication regimens remains an important challenge preventing successful treatment of cardiovascular diseases such as hypertension. While studies have documented differences in the time of day or weekday vs weekend on medication adherence, no study has examined whether having a medication-taking routine contributes to increased medication adherence. The purpose of this study was to: (1) identify patients' sociodemographic factors associated with consistent medication-taking routine; (2) examine associations between medication-taking consistency, medication adherence, and blood pressure (BP) control. The study included black patients with hypertension (n=190; 22 men and 168 women; age, mean +/- standard deviation 54 +/- 12.08years) who completed a practice-based randomized controlled trial. Findings showed that medication-taking consistency was significantly associated with better medication adherence (F=9.54, P=.002). Associations with the consistency index were not statistically significant for diastolic BP control (odds ratio, 1.319; 95% confidence interval, 0.410-4.246; P=.642) and systolic BP control (odds ratio, 0.621; 95% confidence interval, 0.195-1.974; P=.419).