ADHERENCE TO ANTIHYPERTENSIVE MEDICATIONS ACROSS THE LIFE-SPAN

Although treatment for hypertension is readily available, poor control of hypertension is a major health problem frequently manifested in la te life. Researchers believe that one of the major causes of uncontrol led hypertension is failure to take medication as directed. In this pr eliminary study, the medication-taking behaviors of 48 adults diagnose d with hypertension, ranging in age from 35 to 87, were recorded for 2 months with credit card-sized bar-code scanners. The social-cognitive model (Park, 1992) for understanding medication adherence, which prop oses that medication adherence is governed by both beliefs and cogniti ve factors, was used as a basis for this research. Therefore, measures of health behaviors, attitudes about health and medication taking, an d cognitive function were recorded, as well as blood pressure readings . The main findings were that (a) the oldest-old and groups of middle- aged adults were the most nonadherent, whereas the young-old were more likely to adhere than the other age groups; (b) high blood pressure r eadings predicted adherence to antihypertensive medications; and (c) m edication beliefs influenced adherence in some situations.