Patient compliance hypertension therapy

Nifedipine (Fig. 7.1) is the lead compound which was first introduced for the treatment of coronary angina. However, its use in the treatment of hypertension was blunted by a short plasma half-life (in the range of 1.5-2 h) this led to the need for multiple daily administration, and consequently blood pressure control and patient compliance were not fully achieved. However, slow-release formulations - for example, the once-daily Nifedipine Oros - made possible the wide use of nifedipine in cardiovascular therapy. 

The monoamine oxidase inhibitors are associated with a number of undesirable side effects including weight gain, postural hypotension, sexual dysfunction, and insomnia. The most serious side effect is the risk of tyramine-re-lated hypertensive crisis, often referred to as the "cheese effect," which can be fatal. To avoid this situation patients taking MAOIs must limit their tyramine intake, and the restrictive diet required to accomplish this leads to low patient compliance. A similar interaction occurs when switching patients from MAOI to SSRI therapy, and a minimum 2-week washout period before commencement of SSRI therapy is essential to allow MAO levels to return to normal. The therapeutic effects of the TCAs derive from their inhibition of serotonin and norepinephrine uptake, al-... 

Evidence-based pharmacotherapy provides a succinct appreciation of the benefits of a drug, but rarely takes into account the patient s quality of life. Eor instance, intensive statin therapy is recommended because it reduces the incidence of cardiovascular death (odds ratio 0.86), myocardial infarction (odds ratio 0.84), and stroke (odds ratio 0.82) however, the increased risks for any adverse event (odds ratio 1.44), for abnormalities on liver function testing (odds ratio 4.48), for elevations in CK (odds ratio 9.97) and for adverse events requiring discontinuation of therapy (odds ratio 1.28) are less often taken into account by the prescriber. This example emphasises that individualisation is of the utmost importance to keep an acceptable benefit/risk ratio (Clin Ther 2007 29 253-60). The benefits of evidence-based pharmacotherapy may be obtained whenever concordance/compliance of the patient is adequate. However, concordance rate is slightly higher than 30% for chronic conditions, such as hypertension (Curr Hypertens Rep 2007 9 184-9), indicating that the patient has to be educated about the use of drugs, and therapy has to be individualised. 

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