Compliance to treatment and control of blood pressure during follow-up among newly diagnosed hypertensive patients reporting to a tertiary care hospital in North India

Background: Hypertension has accounted as responsible for approximately 12.8% of deaths globally per year. Largely dictated by lack of awareness, compliance to treatment, and follow-up, undiagnosed, untreated, and uncontrolled hypertension clearly places a substantial strain on the health-care delivery system. Materials and Methods: Using an open cohort study design, newly diagnosed hypertension patients were recruited in a tertiary care teaching hospital in Northwest India and followed up for a minimum period of 6 months to check for compliance to prescribed treatment and status of blood pressure (BP) control. Results: Of all the study participants, 60.9% were compliant to treatment. While the majority of males were compliant to treatment, lesser number of females were. 53.9% of participants had BP controlled on treatment. Compliance to treatment among the patients steadily decreases over the follow-up period of 6 months. It has also been observed that BP control on treatment remains almost constant throughout the follow-up period. Conclusion: Addressing time since prescription and belonging to a particular gender as a factor reducing compliance will help improve outcomes in newly diagnosed hypertensives.