Hipertensão arterial no idoso: fatores dificultadores para a adesão ao tratamento medicamentoso

Abstract

Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death in Brazil and hypertension are among its main risk factors. Hypertension is a public health problem whose control, continuously aims to prevent irreversible changes in the body and related to cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. The control of blood pressure is directly related to the degree of adherence to treatment. Non-adherence to drug therapy is a major cause of low rates of hypertension control and is one of the most important problems faced by professionals working in primary care. The objective of this study was to identify factors that influence adherence to treatment of hypertension in elderly hypertensive patients. We performed a literature review-type narrative, considering a time frame the last 10 years (2001-2011) for publications in English and Portuguese. A survey in the database of the Latin American and Caribbean Health Sciences - Lilacs and also in the Scientific Electronic Library Online - SciELO, in addition to the manuals of the Ministry of Health and State Health Secretariat of Minas Gerais and also in the information bank of DATA-SUS. The results showed that the main factors that hinder adherence to antihypertensive treatment are the lack of purchasing power to acquire the drugs, side effects caused by medications, inactivity, poor diet, alcoholism, smoking, emotional, and physical disabilities mental, family abandonment. These factors alone or associated discourage or hinder the correct treatment of the mainly elderly hypertensives.