Compliance characteristics of 291 hypertensive patients from a rural midwest area.

Patient compliance with treatment regimens has been a concern of both researchers and clinicians. Research studies on compliance have generally originated in large city clinics and teaching institutions. The results paint a dismal picture. The question is, are the compliance percentages found in the literature applicable to the hypertensive population in the semirural Midwest who receive long-term care from their family physician? This study was carried out in the practices of seven midwestern family physicians. The 291 patients in the study had a mean compliance percentage of 87 percent. By-product data indicate that outcome results were good. Research on compliance traditionally has conceived of the problem in large part as one of defective behavior by both the patient and the health care system. The physician-patient relationship in a family practice should contribute to better medication compliance. In this study semirural patients with hypertension who receive continuing care from their family physician had better compliance than national figures suggest it should have been.