RESUMO
OBJECTIVE: 1) To determine gender differences regarding therapeutic adherence in patients with arterial hypertension and type 2 diabetes mellitus. 2) To detect differences in terms of age. 3) To determine existing relationships in patient compliance levels between Morisky-Green's test, Batalla's test and the pill count expressed as a percentage of compliance. METHOD: Descriptive, transversal study, carried out for a period of 7 months in the Primary Health Care, Health Centre in Rentería-Beraun (Guipúzcoa), Basque Health Service (Osakidetza), with an incidental sample of 100 patients diagnosed with hypertension and type 2 diabetes mellitus and receiving oral treatment. Principal variables: age, gender. Conditioning variables: years of evolution of each pathology, number of prescribed medicines, time lapse of prescription collection, Morisky-Green's test, Batalla's test and pill count. RESULTS: The statistical analysis yielded similar compliance for men and women, and for different age groups (Morisky-Green and pill count). Approximately 50% of the patients had adequate compliance according to at least one of the 3 tests. A greater relationship was found between Morisky-Green's test and the pill count method, and medication adherence improved when knowledge of the disease increased, and when the number of prescribed pills became smaller. CONCLUSIONS: Adherence varies according to the evaluation tool used, non-adherence is high and knowledge of the disease helps compliance. This suggests the convenience of systematically reviewing treatments and supplying more information to patients.
