Análise da associação entre letramento funcional em saúde e adesão ao tratamento medicamentoso da hipertensão arterial sistêmica

Abstract

This is a cross-sectional study performed with 340 hypertensive users who have been monitored by the Family Health Care Service from the city of São João del-Rei. They have been selected based on the follow-up records of the community health agents by simple random sampling. The aim of the study is to analyze the association between Functional Health Literacy and the adherence to the medical treatment for HAS (hypertension); to describe the levels of functional health literacy in the evaluated population; to estimate the predominant non-adherence to the drug treatment for hypertension and to analyze the factors that are connected to the non-adherence to the medical treatment for hypertension. Data collection has happened between June and September 2017 and it was carried out by using a questionnaire with questions about socioeconomic factors related to the patient, to their disease, to their treatment, the team who have assisted them and the health care service itself. The evaluation in order to measure the adherence to the drug treatment was carried out via the 8-item Morisky Medication Adherence Scale (MMAS-8) and the Functional Health Literacy level was measured by the B-TOFHLA. Statistical analyzes have been performed using the chi-square test and Poisson regression models in order to estimate crude and adjusted prevalence ratios, confidence intervals (IC95%), and p-value. The predominance of non-adherence to the pharmacological treatment for HAS was 24.1% (IC95%: 19.7-28.5). The main factors associated with the non-adherence to the drug therapy were: trustworthiness regarding the importance of drugs for the treatment of HAS, the frequency the user takes the prescribed medicine per day, the understanding of the instructions and explanations given by the health care professionals, and the struggle in talking to the professionals. Low functional health literacy has been found in 80.2% of the hypertensive patients who have been interviewed. The non-adherence ratio among patients with low functional health literacy is 77% higher than the proportion of non-adherence among patients with adequate functional health literacy (PR = 1.77, IC 95%: 0.93-3.75). The results have shown that changes based on the complexity of the therapeutic regime and an adequate health care provision based on the specificities of each individual, taking into account the influence that the patient gets from the environment he comes from can contribute to raise the levels of medication adherence for HAS. It is also possible to assume that, by identifying the patients limitations regarding the access and the overall comprehension of the information and instructions that are passed on to them, it allows the healthcare team to prepare and implement strategies that may favor the communication process between the healthcare professionals and users of the system, thus compensating for the low levels of functional health literacy and making the information and general guidelines that are necessary for the management and follow-up of the disease more easily understood by its users.