ABSTRACT
Background
In post-disaster situations, additional barriers may reduce antihypertensive medication
adherence.
Methods
Between November 2005 and August 2006, 210 hypertensive patients receiving care at
a multispecialty group practice in New Orleans completed a structured questionnaire.
Antihypertensive medication adherence was measured with the Hill-Bone medication compliance
subscale. In a subset of patients, data on difficulties patients encountered with
blood pressure medications in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina were collected.
Results
Seventy-six percent of patients reported damage to their residence and 46% of patients
had less-than-perfect medication adherence. After multivariate adjustment, less than
perfect medication adherence postdisaster was more common among people aged <65 years
(prevalence ratio = 1.37; 95% confidence interval: 1.03–1.82) and non-whites (1.32;
95% confidence interval: 1.02–1.71). Uncontrolled blood pressure (systolic/diastolic
≥140/≥90 mm Hg) was more common in those with less-than-perfect adherence than their counterparts
with perfect adherence (51% versus 42%, respectively). In addition, 7% of patients
reported not bringing their blood pressure medications when they evacuated, 28% ran
out of blood pressure medications, 16% reported difficulties getting medications filled,
and 28% reported a blood pressure medication change postdisaster.
Conclusions
Opportunities exist to improve disaster planning and prescription refill processes
and increase medication adherence and hypertension control postdisasters.
KEY INDEXING TERMS
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Article info
Publication history
Accepted:
April 2,
2008
Received:
October 31,
2007
Footnotes
Ashli Phillips is currently at Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Sinai Hospital of Baltimore, Baltimore, Maryland.
The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institute on Aging or the National Institutes of Health.
This study was supported in part by National Institute on Aging Grant Number R01 AG022536 and by Ochsner Clinic Foundation.
Presented in part at the AHA 47th Annual Conference on Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention, Orlando, FL, 2007.
Identification
Copyright
© 2008 Southern Society for Clinical Investigation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
