Adherence to antihypertensive therapy and sexual dysfunction incidence

Abstract

Introduction: Non-adherence to antihypertensive treatment is a problem that has been identified and studied. The occurrence of adverse reactions is a common cause of it, but the role of sexual dysfunction has not been well studied.
Objective: To describe the behavior of the adherence to antihypertensive treatment and its relation to the onset of sexual disorders.
Method: A prospective descriptive study was conducted with 102 patients from 2 doctor’s offices of the XX Aniversario Polyclinic in Santa Clara. A survey was performed in order to define sociodemographic variables, concomitant diseases, organ damage and antihypertensive treatment. The improved Morisky-Green-Levine test was used to evaluate adherence to treatment. Adverse reactions were considered in depth, especially sexual disfuctions.
Results: It was found that 45.1% (46 out of 102 patients) did not adhere to the prescribed therapy. Abandonment of treatment due to adverse reactions (45, 97.8%) was the main cause. There was no difference in the adherence to treatment between sexes or between age groups. The most common adverse reactions included fatigue (49%), sexual dysfunction (39.2%), headache (39.2%) and hypotension (39.2%).
Conclusions: The number of hypertensive patients without adherence to drug therapy is very high, without regard to sex or age. The onset of sexual disorders is one of the adverse reactions that lead to this situation.