What the Researchers Found
Across the pooled trials, following more than 91,000 participants for an average of five years, patients who took their medication at least 80% of the time saw their systolic blood pressure drop by 5.2 mmHg more than those on a placebo or less intensive treatment. Among patients who took their medication less than 80% of the time, that gap shrank to just 3.0 mmHg. The difference mattered more than it might sound: the higher-adherence group had an 11% lower risk of major cardiovascular events compared to their control group, while the lower-adherence group showed no statistically significant reduction in that risk at all. “Our results reinforce the saying that ‘drugs don’t work in patients who don’t take them,'” Yang said. “Patients with lower adherence derived little or no cardiovascular benefit, whereas those with higher adherence had greater reductions in blood pressure and prevention of cardiovascular events.”
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