Adherence to antihypertensive therapy prior to the first presentation of stroke in hypertensive adults: population-based study.

ABSTRACT:

Aims

Antihypertensive drug therapy is a major strategy of stroke prevention among hypertensive patients. The aim of this study was to estimate the excess risk of stroke associated with non-adherence to antihypertensive drug therapy among hypertensive patients.

Methods and results

We conducted a population-based study using records from Finnish national registers for 1 January 1995 to 31 December 2007. Of the 73 527 hypertensive patients aged 30 years or older and without pre-existing stroke or cardiovascular disease, 2144 died from stroke and 24 560 were hospitalized due to stroke during the follow-up. At the 2- and 10-year follow-up after the start of continuous antihypertensive medication, non-adherent patients had 3.81 [95% confidence interval (CI) 2.85-5.10] and 3.01 (95

SUBMITTER: Herttua K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3791393 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature