| Abstract: | Objective: to identify the epidemiological profile of hypertension patients, how much theyunderstand about the disease and the rate of adherence to treatment by thesepatients who had been hospitalized in the Brazilian emergency service.Methods: this cross-sectional study was performed with 116 patients, both male and femaleand aged over 18 years, who had been hospitalized in the Emergency Service of aUniversity Hospital between March and June, 2013. The studied variables were datareferring to socio-demographics, comorbidities, physical activity and knowledgeregarding the disease. Patient adherence to treatment and the identification ofthe barriers were respectively evaluated using the Morisky test and the BriefMedication Questionnaire. Results: most of the patients involved in this study were women (55%), with white skincolor (55%), married (51%), retirees or pensioners (64%) and with a loweducational level (58%). Adherence to treatment, in most cases (55%), was moderateand the most prevalent adherence barrier was recall (67%). When medication wasacquired at no cost to the patient, there was greater adherence to treatment. Conclusion: this study''s patients had a moderate understanding about the disease. The highcorrelation between the number of drugs used and the recall barrier suggests thatmonotherapy is an option that can facilitate treatment adherence and reduce howoften the patients forget to take their medication. |
