Improvement of medication compliance in uncontrolled hypertension

• Published in: The Lancet (British edition) Vol. 1; no. 7972; p. 1265
• Main Authors: Haynes, R B, Sackett, D L, Gibson, E S, Taylor, D W, Hackett, B C, Roberts, R S, Johnson, A L
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England 12-06-1976
• Subjects: Antihypertensive Agents - administration & dosage; Antihypertensive Agents - therapeutic use; Blood Pressure; Blood Pressure Determination - methods; Clinical Trials as Topic; Drug Administration Schedule; Follow-Up Studies; Health Education; Home Care Services; Humans; Hypertension - drug therapy; Male; Metallurgy; Occupational Diseases - drug therapy; Ontario; Patient Compliance; Self-Help Devices; Ontario
• ISSN: 0140-6736

38 hypertensive Canadian steelworkers who were neither compliant with medications nor at goal diastolic blood-pressure six months after starting treatment were allocated either to a control group or to an experimental group who were taught how to measure their own blood-pressures, asked to chart their home blood-pressures and pill taking, and taught how to tailor pill taking to their daily habits and rituals; these men were also seen fortnightly by a highschool graduate with no formal health professional training who reinforced the experimental manoeuvres and rewarded improvements in compliance and blood-pressure. Six months later, average compliance had fallen by 1.5% in the control group but rose 21.3% in the experimental group. Blood-pressures fell in 17 of 20 experimental patients (to goal in 6) and in 10 of 18 control patients (to goal in 2).