IMPACT ANALYSIS OF PATIENT COUNSELLING ON MEDICATION ADHERENCE IN PATIENTS SUFFERING FROM HYPERTENSION AT DISTRICT GENERAL HOSPITAL AMRAVATI

Background: Hypertension is one of the leading causes of deaths and is regarded as silent killers that have caused approx. 2.3 million deaths in India in 1990's and this figure of deaths is supposed to be doubled by 2020. Objective: The sole objective of the study was to assess the medication adherence of the patients before and after counseling and to analyze the impact of patient counseling in patients. Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted at the District General Hospital, Amravati using Morisky-8 Medication Adherence scale in patient with hypertension without any co-morbidity. Results: Study performed on 132 subjects revealed that 77% of the subjects shown low adherence while only 5% shown complete medication adherence before counseling. After counseling, the subjects who were compliant with the therapy rose to 41% while those who weren't compliant decreased to 11%. Two way ANOVA analysis of the data obtained revealed that there was significant improvement (P<0.0001) in medication adherence and medication knowledge. Key words: Patient counseling, Medication adherence, Hypertension, Morisky Scale, Patient information Leaflet