Summary
Of 1,593 subjects admitted to the Australian National Blood Pressure Study 1 to 2 years ago, a substantial number (391 or 24.5%) ceased attending, in 85% of cases voluntarily.
Withdrawal rates were very high in the first 4 months, settling to 5% per annum by the second year. Extrapolation to clinical practice is hazardous but contributory factors elicited by questionnaire suggest certain management strategies: maximisation of efforts to enlist subject co-operation at the onset of treatment; management of treatment by family doctor or health centre with appointments flexible in time and infrequent in number; minimisation of doctors’ ambivalence about treatment effectiveness and the withholding of information from the subject.
It is inevitable that a proportion of subjects will reject long-term drug treatment. This adds further weight to the need for research on alternatives such as low salt diets.
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References
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Abernethy, J.D. The Problem of Non-Compliance in Long-Term Antihypertensive Therapy. Drugs 11 (Suppl 1), 86–90 (1976). https://doi.org/10.2165/00003495-197600111-00022
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.2165/00003495-197600111-00022