The use of an electronic medication organizer device with alarm to improve medication adherence of older adults with hypertension
Liliana Batista Vieira, Adriano Max Moreira Reis, Celso de Ávila Ramos, Tiago Marques dos Reis, Silvia Helena De Bortoli Cassiani
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To examine whether the use of a monthly electronic medication organizer device equipped with an alarm clock, called Electronic System for Personal and Controlled Use of Medications (Supermed), improves medication adherence of older adults with hypertension. METHODS: This is a quali-quantitative, prospective, before-and-after study performed with 32 older adult patients with diagnosis of hypertension, who were recruited at a Primary Care Unit in Brazil. RESULTS: The main outcome measures were improvement of medication adherence and blood pressure control after intervention with Supermed. Regarding medication adherence, 81.2% of patients were "less adherent" in the pre-intervention period, and 96.9% were "more adherent" in the post-intervention period. This means that 78.1% of patients changed from "less adherent" to "more adherent" after the intervention with Supermed (p<0.001). The mean systolic and diastolic blood pressure differences between intervention day and post-intervention were 18.5mmHg (p<0.0001) and 4.3mmHg (p<0.007), respectively, and the differences between mean systolic and diastolic blood pressure between pre-intervention and post-intervention were 21.6mmHg (p<0.001) and 4.7mmHg (p<0.001) respectively. CONCLUSION: The use of Supermed significantly improved self-reported medication adherence and blood pressure control in a hypertensive older adult population.