ASSESSMENT OF ADHERENCE TO ANTIHYPERTENSIVE MEDICATION IN A POPULATION OF ARGENTINA DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

ABSTRACT

Objective: The objective was to assess the adherence to antihypertensive treatment and its determinants in patients during the pandemic by COVID-19 Design and method: A multicenter, prospective, observational cohort study included outpatients from the Cuyo region of Argentina from March to July 2021 that met the following inclusion criteria 1- patients over 16 years old under antihypertensive treatment;2- informed consent signature 3- complete 35-dimensional questionnaire. Results: From 512 enrolled patients, 468 met the inclusion criteria. The average age was 50.1 ± 0.1 years, 56.8% were women. At least 39% had 1 CV risk factor. COVID- 19 was documented in 35% and 3.6% presented a severe form. The most widely used vaccine was Sputnik V and 70% had at least 1 dose of vaccination for COVID- 19. Average adherence was 69%. The average of systolic blood pressure was 139.3 ± 1.0 mmHg and diastolic blood pressure was 85.9 ± 0.6 mmHg. The average number of antihypertensive drugs was 1.26. Table 1 shows the results of multivariate analysis. Conclusions: In a population with intermediate cardiovascular risk, adherence was low, and blood pressure control was suboptimal. The most important predictive variables of low adherence were age, the number of antihypertensive drug tablets, level of education, and smoking.