Effect of Education through a Periodic Newsletter on Persistence with Antihypertensive Therapy

Abstract

Sufficient persistence with therapy is important to achieve the desired benefits of antihypertensive therapy. This study was designed to describe the rates of persistence with antihypertensive therapy for 1 year and to assess the effect of patient education by a periodic newsletter on persistence rates in general practice in Japan. Information on 5, 324 patients who received the newsletter once a month for 1 year (intervention group; 53.9% of those originally registered) and 666 patients who did not receive the newsletter (control group; 94.3% of those originally registered) was obtained from a physician questionnaire (response rate: 54.3%). The rate of persistence with antihypertensive therapy in the intervention group was similar to that in the control group (91.7% vs. 90.7%, respectively). The patient questionnaire (response rate: 28.2%) indicated that most patients consistently read the newsletter and found it useful in understanding the management of hypertension. The results of this 1-year study showed that about 90% of patients persisted with therapy for 1 year. Although most of them evaluated the newsletter favorably, no clear effect of the newsletter on their persistence with therapy was revealed. However, these results do not rule out a possible effect of education on persistence with therapy over the long-term, and thus there is need of a longer-term study employing follow-up questionnaires. (Hypertens Res 2003; 26: 159-162)