2014 Articles

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Medication Nonadherence in Patients With Uncontrolled Hypertension

Kronish, Ian M.; Lin, Jenny J.; Cohen, Beth E.; Voils, Corrine I.; Edmondson, Donald E.

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is common in primary care patients and is associated with psychological distress, suicide risk, and disability. Posttraumatic stress disorder also increases risk of incident and recurrent cardiovascular events, possibly by reducing medication adherence. Prior studies showing an association between PTSD and medication nonadherence are limited by their use of self-report to measure adherence as PTSD can bias reporting of negative behaviors. We evaluated the association between PTSD and antihypertensive medication adherence using electronic monitoring in primary care patients with uncontrolled hypertension.