Characterizing weekly self-reported antihypertensive medication nonadherence across repeated occasions

Figures & data

Figure 1 Participant flow diagram.

Table 1 Demographic characteristics of participants

Demographic characteristic	Full analytic sample (n=261)
Age, mean (standard deviation)	63.9 (9.0)
Male, N (%)	243 (93)
Race, N (%)
White	133 (51)
Black/African American	124 (48)
Other	4 (1)
Education, N (%)*
High school or less	85 (33)
Some education beyond high school	65 (25)
Completed at least a 2 year college degree	110 (42)
Financial status, N (%)†
Difficulty paying bills no matter what	38 (15)
Enough to pay bills because cut back on things	36 (14)
Enough to pay bills but little spare for special things	79 (31)
After paying bills, still have enough for special things	104 (40)

Notes: Within a characteristic, numbers may not sum to the total because of missing data, and percentages may not sum to 100% because of rounding. Participants with missing data are excluded from percentage calculations.

* One participant was missing data on education;

† four participants were missing data on financial status.

Table 2 Endorsement of reasons for nonadherence on nonadherence occasions

Reason for nonadherence	Nonadherence occasions endorsed (n=152)
I forgot	39.5%
I was busy	23.7%
I was traveling	19.7%
I ran out of medication	15.1%
I came home late	14.5%
I was with friends or family members	13.8%
They make me need to urinate too often	10.5%
The medication caused some adverse effects	9.2%
I worried about taking them for the rest of my life	9.2%
I was afraid they might affect my sexual performance	9.2%
I was in a public place	7.2%
I was afraid the medication would interact with another medication I take	6.6%
I was feeling too ill to take them	5.9%
They cost a lot of money	5.9%
The time to take them was between my meals	5.3%
I felt I did not need them	3.3%
I was afraid of becoming dependent on them	2.6%
My blood pressure was too low	2.6%
I did not have any symptoms of high blood pressure	2.6%
I had other medications to take	2.0%
I was supposed to take them too many times a day	0.7%

Notes: Reasons for nonadherence are examined for nonadherence occasions, which are occasions in which any degree of nonadherence was reported (ie, a response other than “never”) on at least one extent of nonadherence item (of 152 total nonadherence occasions). Endorsement of a reason is defined as responding at least 2 on 1–5 scale, where 1= not at all and 5= very much.