The association between self-perceptions of aging and antihypertensive medication adherence in older Chinese adults.
BACKGROUND
Approximately one billion adults worldwide are hypertensive and most aged 60 or above. Poor adherence with medication treatment is still one of the main causes of failure in achieving blood pressure control. Compared to younger individuals, aging perception may be the main factor influencing elders receiving preventive care. Some studies have investigated the impact of self-perceptions of aging on some preventive health behaviors including "followed the directions for taking prescription medications" in developed countries in the West. However, there is a scarcity of studies evaluating the self-perceptions of aging and its association with antihypertensive adherence among Chinese older adults.


AIM
This study aimed to identify the association between aging perceptions and antihypertensive drug adherence among Chinese older adults.


METHODS
A cross-sectional investigation was conducted in wards and outpatient clinic of a University Hospital and communities in Suzhou, China. Older adults who were taking at least one antihypertensive drug currently were invited to complete a self-administered questionnaire, including basic socio-demographic and clinical information, self-reported medication adherence and self-perceptions of aging.


RESULTS
From 585 old patients, 34.2 % was determined to have good medication adherence. Logistic regression analysis demonstrated that good adherence to antihypertensive agents was more common among those with lower scores on "timeline cyclical" (p = 0.004) and "identity" (p < 0.001) dimensions, and higher scores on "control positive" (p = 0.004) dimension of aging perceptions.


CONCLUSION
Self-perceptions of aging, being significantly associated with medication adherence, are an important starting point when conducting intervention programmes for elder patients.
['Hou|Yunying|Y|', 'Zhang|Dandan|D|', 'Gu|Jie|J|', 'Xue|Feng|F|', 'Sun|Yunjuan|Y|', 'Wu|Qing|Q|', 'Zhao|Xin|X|', 'Wang|Xiaohua|X|']
D000368:Aged D000375:Aging D000959:Antihypertensive Agents D044466:Asians D002681:China D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies D005260:Female D015438:Health Behavior D006801:Humans D006973:Hypertension D008297:Male D055118:Medication Adherence D008875:Middle Aged D012649:Self Concept D057566:Self Report D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
Self-perceptions of aging Medication adherence Hypertension