[Adherence to medication among hypertensive patients participating in the Medicine at Home Program].

OBJECTIVE

to analyze adherence to medication and associated among factors hypertensive individuals taking part in the Medicine at Home Programme.

METHODS

this was a cross-sectional study using a questionnaire administered to patients with full access to medication participating in the São Paulo City Health Department's Medicine at Home Programme; treatment adherence was analyzed according to sociodemographic and behavioral characteristics using Poisson regression.

RESULTS

106 patients with arterial hypertension and with full access to medication were interviewed and 80.2% had high adherence; there were no significant differences (p>0.05) between adhering and non-adhering participants with regard to sociodemographic, behavioral or clinical characteristics.

CONCLUSION

with adequate provision of health care and full access to medicine, sociodemographic, behavioral and clinical factors did not influence adherence to medicine indicating that health service organization and health policies play a fundamental role in controlling hypertension.