Impact of pharmacist's intervention on disease related knowledge, medication adherence, HRQoL and control of blood pressure among hypertensive patients

The present study was aimed to evaluate the effect of educational intervention provided to the patients of hypertension through pharmacist with the goal to improve knowledge about hypertension, adherence to prescribed medicines, blood pressure control and HRQoL (Health Related Quality of Life). A total of 384 patients were assigned randomly into 2 groups including intervention and control groups each having 192 patients. Urdu versions of knowledge questionnaire regarding hypertension, medication adherence scale (MMAS-U) by Morisky and EuroQol scale (EQ-5D) were utilized. Each patient's blood pressure was measured. After educational intervention, an increase was found in mean knowledge score about hypertension (18.18 +/- 4.00), adherence score (5.89 +/- 1.90), HRQoL score (0.73 +/- 0.12) and Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) score (69.39 +/- 5.90) among the IG. The blood pressure control also improved and lower systolic (131.81 +/- 10.98 mmHg) and diastolic blood pressures (83.75 +/- 6.21 mmHg) were observed among the patients of IG. This study showed that educational programs are useful for patients in increasing patient's levels of knowledge about hypertension, improving adherence to prescribed medication and enhancing blood pressure control. This increase is in turn accountable to improve HRQoL.