Assessment of Adherence to Medication and Its Association with Health-Related Quality of Life Among Hypertensive Patients in the United Arab Emirates

Background: Many patients, especially those with chronic conditions (eg, hypertension, cardiovascular disease), struggle to adhere to long-term medication regimens, leading to serious complications and reduced quality of life. Methods: A cross-sectional study at Thumbay University Hospital was conducted among hypertensive patients (≥ 18 years, ≥ 6 months on antihypertensive therapy) to assess medication adherence and its association with health-related quality of life (HRQoL). Data were collected using a structured questionnaire; adherence and HRQoL were measured by the Hill-Bone and WHOQOL-BREF instruments; data were analyzed with descriptive statistics, chi-square tests, binary logistic regression, and Spearman correlations. Results: Among 377 patients medication adherence was predominantly high in 55.7% of patients, medium in 40.6%, and low in 3.7%; 76.9% reported high HRQoL, with the highest domain score in Environment (81.25%) and lowest in Physical health (67.86%) (differences were significant). Spearman correlations showed small but significant associations between adherence and Physical ( ρ = − 0.10, p = 0.05) and Environment ( ρ = 0.12, p = 0.02); other domains were non-significant. Longer hypertension duration increased adherence (AOR 6.98 for 10–< 15 years, p < 0.001; 8.81 for ≥ 15 years, p = 0.01), whereas non-Muslim religion (AOR 0.49, p = 0.03) and no family history (AOR 0.57, p = 0.04) predicted lower adherence. In multivariate HRQoL analysis, age ≥ 60, home ownership, comorbidity, and ≥ 3 antihypertensives had AORs of 0.40, 0.34, 0.22, and 0.10 (p = 0.03, 0.01, 0.03, 0.00) for lower HRQoL; regular income and no alternative medicine had AORs of 2.67 and 2.60 (p = 0.03, 0.01) for higher HRQoL. Conclusion: Adherent in this UAE study was high (55.7%), and HRQoL was generally favorable; HRQoL was higher with regular income, home ownership, and no alternative medicine, but lower with comorbidities, age ≥ 60, and ≥ 3 antihypertensives. Adherence improved with longer disease duration and was influenced by religion and family history, highlighting the need for targeted interventions to improve adherence and HRQoL.