Therapeutic Compliance of Hypertensive Patients Followed in Ambulatory in the Cardiology Department of Kati University Hospital

Introduction: High blood pressure is a major public health problem worldwide due to its frequency and cardiovascular complications. Adherence to treatment for chronic diseases is a global problem. The aim was to study therapeutic adherence in hypertensive patients followed in ambulatory. Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional, descriptive study with prospective recruitment that took place from July 1 to December 31, 2022 (6 months) in the cardiology department of the university hospital of Kati. The variables studied were sociodemographic data, cardiovascular risk factors, comorbidities, the possession of insurance and compliance (the Girerd questionnaire was used to assess adherence). Results: A total of 1182 patients were consulted, including 887 for hypertension, a frequency of 75%. Fifty-six patients were included in the study. The average age was 58.18 ± 13.25 years with extremes of 30 and 80 years. There was a female predominance (75%) with a sex ratio of 0.3. The majority of patients lived in urban areas (89.3%). Out-of-school patients accounted for 44.6%, more than half of patients or 55.4% had no income, patients with medical coverage accounted for 67.9% of cases. The main risk factors were physical inactivity (25%) followed by smoking 14.3%. More than 71% of patients had a compliance problem and the main reasons were forgetting to take the drug with 73.2%, followed by delayed treatment of 50% and drug discontinuation of 28.6%. Conclusion: Compliance is a real challenge and a major public health issue. This study allowed us to find a real problem of compliance in our hypertensive patients. There was a statistically significant relationship between drug adherence and forgetting to take the drug and drug discontinuation.