The Relationship Between Illness Perception and Medication Adherence in Hypertensive Patients Attending the General Out-Patient Clinics, Ekiti State University Teaching Hospital, South-West Nigeria

Background: Optimal blood pressure control has been shown to be associated with good adherence to medications and patient’s perception. This study sought to assess the relationship between illness perception and medication adherence of patients with hypertension with a view to improving the quality of care and medication adherence among the patients attending the outpatient clinic in Ekiti State. Methods: A hospital-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 381 adult patients with hypertension who had been on antihypertensive medications for at least three months. A systematic random sampling method was used and a semi-structured interviewer questionnaire was administered to obtain information. Respondents’ illness perception was measured, using the Adapted (BIPQ), while the medication adherence was measured using MMAS-8. The data collected was analysed using SPSS version 20. Results: The mean age of respondents was 62.30±3.84, with 54.9% reported moderate illness perception, 88.5% high illness perception, and 51.2% had good adherence to their medications. Respondents with moderate to high illness perception were about 7.84 and 3.21 times respectively, more likely to have good medication adherence than those with low illness perception. The significant predictors of medication adherence identified were sex, ethnicity, education, occupation, and marital status. There was a positive statistically significant relationship between respondents with moderate to high illness perception and good medication adherence (χ2 = 15.32, p= 0.003). Conclusion: Clinicians should take cognizance of health and illness behaviours of their patients to reinforce patient perception and educate them on how a positive perception to their illness can enhance their antihypertensive adherence.