ABSTRACT
Background
Previous research indicates that many patients with hypertension ran out of medications
and had difficulties getting refills immediately after Hurricane Katrina. The extended
effect of Hurricane Katrina on antihypertensive medication adherence is not well characterized.
Methods
Data were analyzed for 2194 participants who completed the baseline survey for the
Cohort Study of Medication Adherence among Older Adults between August 2006 and September
2007. Based on pre-Katrina zip codes, the study population was categorized into high-
and low-affected areas. Low medication adherence was defined as a score less than
6 on the 8-item Morisky Medication Adherence Scale.
Results
Prevalence of low adherence was similar among participants living in high and low
affected areas. Low medication adherence was similar for participants with greater
than or less than 25% of the residence damaged by Hurricane Katrina and for participants
with and without symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. In high affected areas,
nonsignificant associations were present for those who had moved since the storm and
those with a friend or immediate family member who had died in the month after the
storm. These factors were not associated with low medication adherence in low affected
areas. In both high- and low-affected areas, lower scores on the hurricane coping
self-efficacy scale were associated with low medication adherence (P < 0.05).
Conclusions
The effect of Hurricane Katrina on patient adherence to antihypertensive medication
was limited in the second year after the storm. Intrinsic patient factors, such as
low coping self-efficacy, remain important factors associated with low adherence.
KEY INDEXING TERMS
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Article info
Publication history
Accepted:
May 23,
2008
Received:
April 25,
2008
Footnotes
The project described was supported by Grant Number R01 AG022536 from the National Institute on Aging. 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.
Identification
Copyright
© 2008 Southern Society for Clinical Investigation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
