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Adherence to antihypertensive therapy is suboptimal, but how much of an effect does adherence really have? In this analysis of a large Italian registry, nearly 19,000 patients with hypertension but without incident heart disease were categorized as having high, intermediate, or low adherence to their treatment regimens (8%, 41%, and 51% of the cohort, respectively). Patients were followed for a mean of 4.6 years. Adherence was assessed from prescription records as days on which pills were available to the patient.
Diabetes (odds ratio, 1.40), dyslipidemia (OR, 1.52), obesity (OR, 1.50), and, interestingly, multiple-drug treatment regimens (OR, 1.62) were all associated significantly with high antihypertensive adherence. Compared with low adh…