The association between drug therapy problems and blood pressure control of patients with hypertension in public health center setting

Background: Patients with hypertension are at risk of experi-encing Drug Therapy Problems (DTPs). However, few have stud-ied the pattern of DTPs in Indonesian public health center (PHC) and how it affected the blood pressure control. Objective: This study aims to identify DTPs and its associa- tion to blood pressure control among patients with hypertension in Indonesian PHCs. Methods: A descriptive, observational and cross-sectional study involving 150 selected persistent hypertensive patients was conducted from August to December 2019 in 63 PHCs in Surabaya. A questionnaire asking patients’ experiences during treatment of hypertension was used. Chi-square test was used to analyze the association between DTPs and blood pressure control. Results: The majority of respondents were aged 50-65 (54.7%), female (76%), only half has controlled blood pressure (52.7%) and most of them used three to four medicines at the same time (57.3%). A total 563 DTPs was identified with 15.6% was unnecessary drug use, 11.4% indicated need for additional drug therapy, one-fifth experienced dosage too low (21.5%) and non-adherence (19.2%) and 26% suffered from adverse drug reactions. There was a significant association between number of DTPs and blood pressure control (P<0.05). Conclusion: Most patients experienced more than two DTPs and undertook more than three medicines at the same time. There is a significant association between the number of DTPs in hypertensive patient and the blood pressure control.