DRUG CHOICE: EFFECT ON ADHERENCE IN HYPERTENSION.
Contributors: University Of Illinois At Chicago, Health Sciences Center.
Published: 1988
Number of pages: 266
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.
Description: A self-regulatory strategy utilizing drug choice was instituted in mild hypertensive patient to answer two questions: (1) does patient choice of drug affect the adherence behavior of hypertensives to a therapeutic regimen and (2) are patients able to discriminate between antihypertensive drugs that vary in terms of central nervous system penetration?.

Sixteen male subjects participated in the six week drug trials of propranolol and atenolol. Following exposure to each drug, subjects were divided into two groups; drug choice and no drug choice. Participants were run in tandem matching each drug choice subject with a no drug choice subject regarding medication. All eight subjects randomized into the drug choice group selected atenolol, therefore, eight subjects were assigned to continue taking atenolol.

Three months post selection, there were no significant differences in compliance between groups as measured by blood pressure, percent home blood pressure recordings, percent appointments kept and pill counts. However, during drug trials, subjects kept significantly more appointments and consumed more of their medication while taking atenolol than propranolol.

Using repeated measures to evaluate drug discrimination, subjects scored significantly higher on the anger/hostility subscale of the Profile of Mood States and the pentobarbitol/chlorpromazine/alcohol scale of the Addiction Research Center Inventory when taking low dose propranolol compared to low dose atenolol. Evaluation of dose-response curves revealed that subjects receiving low dose beta blockade scored consistently higher on all phases of the Profile of Mood States, with the exception of the vigor score, than subjects receiving high dose of drug.

Results lend further support to the use of non-drug therapies for subjects with diastolic blood pressures between 90-95 mm Hg. and for self-regulatory strategies regarding drug choice.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 49-09, Section: B, page: 3680.

Thesis (PH.D.)--UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT CHICAGO, HEALTH SCIENCES CENTER, 1988.

School code: 0806.