This research aims to evaluate the adherence to hypertension medicine, patient follow-up and blood pressure monitoring in hypertensive patients in Jordan during the period of the COVID-19 pandemic. A validated questionnaire was designed and emailed to 272 hypertensive patients native to Jordan. Participants in this research were selected from various Facebook groups by considering the following criteria. The designed questionnaire was emailed in the period between July and September 2020. Most of the respondents (about 60%) reported that they miss their routine antihypertension medicine one to four times a month. The highest number of patients (38%) stated that they had consulted their doctor within the past 7–12 months. Collectively about 74% of the patients had consulted their doctor in previous years. Among them, 58% had a face-to-face consultancy and 42% consulted their doctor by telephone. The COVID-19 pandemic may have the negative effect of raising nonadherence to antihypertensive medication as many patients were reluctant to visit their doctors due to fear of viral infection. Hypertension can be better managed by addressing such barriers to adherence.
Keywords:Anti-hypertensives, medication adherence, nonadherence, pandemic.