Compliance Among Adolescents with Arterial Hypertension

BACKGROUND: The term "compliance" means the degree to which the patient's behavior, applying medication or certain lifestyle changes, is consistent with arrangements communicated to him by a doctor or other healthcare professional. Literature indicates that the degree of adherence to medical recommendations for hypertensive patients is unsatisfactory, making it the main cause of the low effectiveness of antihypertensive therapy. OBJECTIVES: The aim of the study was to assess the compliance of adolescents in the field of pharmacological and non-pharmacological methods of hypertension treatment. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The study included 62 patients (20 women, 42 men) diagnosed with hypertension and treated in specialist healthcare facilities. As a research tool, a questionnaire prepared on the basis of recent literature was used. RESULTS: The vast majority of respondents (72.7%) declared that they were regularly taking antihypertensive drugs. The proportion of patients regularly taking antihypertensive drugs was higher in patients treated with monotherapy than with polytherapy (48.5% vs. 24.2%). Among the methods of non-pharmacological treatment of hypertension, the most accepted lifestyle change in the study population was smoking cessation (83.8% of respondents) and reduction of salt consumption (64.5% of respondents), and the least acceptable lifestyle change was maintaining proper body weight by eating a low calorie diet (30.6% of respondents). CONCLUSIONS: Adolescents with hypertension adhere in varying degrees to medical recommendations related to the hypertension treatment. The available literature indicates that the currently effective way to improve cooperation with the patients is education.