JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

The lack of adherence to prescribed blood pressure medication occurs in 50% of patients and leads to poor health outcomes and increased medical costs. Consistent use of blood pressure medications among patients with hypertension is essential to the reduction of long-term cardiovascular complications. Strategies to improve medication adherence include “syncing” prescription medications in the pharmacy, which allow patients to retrieve chronically prescribed medications on one date. The adoption of medication synchronization has shown to improve adherence to medications, however, there is lack of data showing if the intervention reduces blood pressure and improve long-term health outcomes.

Objective:

To determine the association between participation in an appointment-based medication synchronization service and blood pressure levels among patients on antihypertensive medications.

Methods:

This longitudinal prospective cohort study will observe changes in blood pressure among individuals in a medication synchronization program and those in a usual care group.

Results:

The research project is in progress and patients are completing blood pressure appointments. Patients on at least two antihypertensive medications and four total medications have been recruited to participate in the study. All participants will be required to have at least a 6-month history of filling prescriptions at the pharmacy prior to enrollment in the study. Based on an estimated standard deviation (SD) of 14 mm Hg, a sample size of 70 provides approximately 80% at a two-sided 0.05 significance to detect a 9 mm Hg difference of blood pressure between the two cohorts.

Conclusions:

This study will link medication synchronization and changes in blood pressure levels among individuals with elevated blood pressure. This study will provide preliminary data for a randomized clinical trial that will assess the impact of medication synchronization on blood pressure.