Capital Medical University Reports Findings in Hypertension (Medical behaviours and medication adherence of older hypertensive patients in different medical insurance programs in Beijing, China: a cross-sectional study): Cardiovascular Diseases and Conditions – Hypertension

2023 DEC 29 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- New research on Cardiovascular Diseases and Conditions - Hypertension is the subject of a report. According to news reporting originating from Beijing, People’s Republic of China, by NewsRx correspondents, research stated, “Grassroots medical institutions are the primary ‘battlefield’ of hypertension management based on hierarchical diagnosis and treatment policies in China. There is a considerable difference in the insured population and reimbursement ratio between different medical insurance programs.”

Our news editors obtained a quote from the research from Capital Medical University, “The management of hypertension directly affects the development trend of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. To understand the difference between different medical insurance programs regarding the management of older hypertensive patients, all outpatients aged 60 and above with hypertension in the basic medical insurance database of Beijing, China, from April 1, 2019, to January 31, 2020, were included. Medical behaviours included patients’ choice of hospital level, type of hospital, number of hospitals visited, grassroots medical institutions and cross-district visits. Medication adherence was evaluated by calculating the medication possession ratio of antihypertensive medications. First, we adopted a statistical description for medical behaviours and medication adherence. Then, multivariate logistic regression was used to analyse the influencing factors of medication adherence. This study included 1.29 million patients with Urban Employee Basic Medical Insurance (UEBMI) and 0.31 million patients with Urban-Rural Resident Basic Medical Insurance (URRBMI). The proportions of patients with UEBMI who chose tertiary hospitals, comprehensive hospitals, grassroots medical institutions and cross-district visits were 25.84%, 56.09%, 57.34% and 39.32%, respectively, while those of patients with URRBMI were 11.14%, 60.59%, 81.28% and 6.07%, respectively. The medication adherence rates of men and women taking one medication were 61.04% and 55.86%, respectively. UEBMI patients who took their medication accounted for 62.36%, while only 40.27% of URRBMI patients adhered to their medication. The percentages of young-old, old-old and oldest-old patients who took their antihypertensive medications were 58.05%, 59.09% and 56.78%, respectively. The adherence to taking 2 medications (35.47%) was lower than that to taking one medication (58.33%). The medication adherence rates of patients with UEBMI and URRBMI for taking 2 medications were 37.21% and 27.45%, respectively. Patients with UEBMI were more inclined to choose tertiary hospitals and cross-district visits than patients with URRBMI.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “The adherence of patients with UEBMI was better than that of patients with URRBMI in China.”

For more information on this research see: Medical behaviours and medication adherence of older hypertensive patients in different medical insurance programs in Beijing, China: a cross-sectional study. BMC Geriatrics, 2023;23(1):878. BMC Geriatrics can be contacted at: Bmc, Campus, 4 Crinan St, London N1 9XW, England. (BioMed Central - http://www.biomedcentral.com/; BMC Geriatrics - http://www.biomedcentral.com/bmcgeriatr/)

The news editors report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Pengcheng Hai, Dept. of Internal Medicine, Beijing Chaoyang Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100020, People’s Republic of China. Additional authors for this research include Lan Lan, Jiawei Luo, Rui Li and Yilong Wang.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12877-023-04476-y. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

Publisher contact information for the journal BMC Geriatrics is: Bmc, Campus, 4 Crinan St, London N1 9XW, England.

(Our reports deliver fact-based news of research and discoveries from around the world.)