Dificuldades para adesão ao tratamento da hipertensão arterial–percepção de um grupo específico

Abstract

Hypertension is considered a multifactorial clinical condition characterized by elevated and sustained blood pressure levels ≥140 x 90 mmHg, usually accompanied by metabolic disturbances, functional and / or structural alterations of target organs. For maintaining blood pressure at controlled levels it is necessary to adhere to a therapeutic and non-medicated therapeutic regime that must be followed continuously. The study aimed to identify the difficulties pointed out by patients with arterial hypertension to follow the medication and non-medication treatment proposed by health professionals. Descriptive, cross-sectional study conducted at the Integrated Center for Diabetes and Hypertension in Fortaleza / CE. Collection period was from January to March 2016, with patients with medical diagnosis of hypertension. A form of two parts was adopted for data collection. Part A included questions that investigated sociodemographic and clinical variables. Part B presented the question related to the main objectiveof the study: to identify the main difficulty to adhere to the treatment of arterial hypertension, between pre-defined options regarding the use of medications, consumption of healthy food and practice of physical exercises. The study included 334 people with arterial hypertension, with a predominance of age between 25 and 59 years, a similar presence of men and women. The majority had two to eight years of study and 34.1% were retired. Most did not develop complications associated with hypertension and did not have DM concomitant with HA. They had regular consultations with a short history of hospital stay and took one to two medications per day (59.9%). Concerning difficulty in adhering to medication, starting or maintaining physical exercises presented ahigher prevalence (58.7%), followed by difficulty in following a healthy eating routine (25.4%) and difficulty in taking medication (15, 9%). It is concluded that, among the difficulties pointed out, adherence to physical exercise should draw the attention of health professionals, since more than half of the participants had difficulty following it. In addition, even though they are not seen as the greatest difficulty, healthy eating and taking medication are important items of antihypertensive treatment. Thus, nursing professionals play a fundamental role in the prevention and promotion of patients' health, making their interventions focused on the difficulties they point to for therapeutic follow-up seeking, in a joint work with the person and their family, ways of coping and motivation to enable them to plan and improve health care practices.