Study: 19.4% Of New Users Of Antihypertensives Stop Therapy After First Prescription.

MedWire  (2/13) reports, "Nearly one in five new users of antihypertensive medications discontinues therapy after the first dispensation," according to a study  published in the American Journal of Hypertension. After examining data on some 52,039 patients "aged 40 years and older who received a new prescription for blood pressure-lowering therapy between 1994 and 2002," researchers found that "at one year after the first dispensation, 50% of the hypertensive patients were not taking their medication, with 19.4% of patients stopping their medication after filling just one prescription." Notably, "individuals with an increased chronic disease score, as well as patients using antidepressant medication, were at increased risk for discontinuing their antihypertensive medicine after the first fill."