Background: In order to achieve target blood pressure levels to prevent cardiovascular disease, combination therapy of antihypertensive drugs is often required, although it is thought that requiring a patient to take many different pills would reduce adherence to the medication regimen. Whether antihypertensive treatment with a single pill combining antihypertensive drugs would improve medication adherence and blood pressure control was investigated. Methods and Results: A total of 207 hypertensive subjects were randomly assigned to a combination pill group (losartan 50mg/hydrochlorothiazide 12.5mg; n=103) or a control group (an angiotensin receptor blocker and a thiazide diuretic; n=104). Medication adherence was evaluated by pill counts at 1, 3, and 6 months after randomization. The mean adherence rates over 6 months were not different between the 2 groups: 98% in the combination pill group and 98% in the control group. Moreover, the 2 groups included similar numbers of subjects with relatively poor adherence rates (<90%) in each treatment period. The mean blood pressures over the 6-month treatment period were not different between the groups: 131/75mmHg in the combination pill group and 130/75mmHg in the control group (P=0.84/0.96). Conclusions: There were no appreciable effects of the combination pill of antihypertensive drugs on medication adherence or blood pressure control in Japanese patients over a 6-month period. (Circ J 2012; 76: 1415-1422).
AD - Department of Medicine and Clinical Science, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University. AN - 22447014 BT - Circulation Journal DP - NLM ET - 2012/03/27 LA - Eng M1 - 6 N1 - Matsumura, KiyoshiArima, HisatomiTominaga, MitsuhiroOhtsubo, ToshioSasaguri, ToshiyukiFujii, KojiFukuhara, MasayoUezono, KeikoMorinaga, YukiOhta, YukoOtonari, TakatoshiKawasaki, JunyaKato, IsaoTsuchihashi, Takuyafor the COMFORT InvestigatorsCirc J. 2012 May 25;76(6):1415-1422. Epub 2012 Mar 15. N2 -Background: In order to achieve target blood pressure levels to prevent cardiovascular disease, combination therapy of antihypertensive drugs is often required, although it is thought that requiring a patient to take many different pills would reduce adherence to the medication regimen. Whether antihypertensive treatment with a single pill combining antihypertensive drugs would improve medication adherence and blood pressure control was investigated. Methods and Results: A total of 207 hypertensive subjects were randomly assigned to a combination pill group (losartan 50mg/hydrochlorothiazide 12.5mg; n=103) or a control group (an angiotensin receptor blocker and a thiazide diuretic; n=104). Medication adherence was evaluated by pill counts at 1, 3, and 6 months after randomization. The mean adherence rates over 6 months were not different between the 2 groups: 98% in the combination pill group and 98% in the control group. Moreover, the 2 groups included similar numbers of subjects with relatively poor adherence rates (<90%) in each treatment period. The mean blood pressures over the 6-month treatment period were not different between the groups: 131/75mmHg in the combination pill group and 130/75mmHg in the control group (P=0.84/0.96). Conclusions: There were no appreciable effects of the combination pill of antihypertensive drugs on medication adherence or blood pressure control in Japanese patients over a 6-month period. (Circ J 2012; 76: 1415-1422).
PY - 2012 SN - 1347-4820 (Electronic)1346-9843 (Linking) SP - 1415 EP - 1422 T2 - Circulation Journal TI - Does a Combination Pill of Antihypertensive Drugs Improve Medication Adherence in Japanese? VL - 76 ER -