Elderly Black Women More Likely To Maintain Hypertension Treatment If They Incorporate Spirituality, Study Finds

Main Category: Hypertension
Also Included In: Compliance;  Psychology / Psychiatry
Article Date: 12 Nov 2007 - 0:00 PDT

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Elderly black women who use spirituality might be more successful adhering to a hypertension regimen, according to a study presented on Wednesday at an annual meeting of the American Heart Association in Orlando, Fla., HealthDay/U.S. News & World Report reports.

For the report, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing studied 21 black women who were an average age of 73 and participated in CMS' Program for All Inclusive Care for the Elderly. The participants had been diagnosed with hypertension for an average of 16.7 years and were taking an average of 3.3 hypertension medications. According to researchers, older blacks tend to have poorer adherence to hypertension regimens than younger blacks or whites.

All 21 women reported that they used a process identified as "Partnering with God to Manage My Medications," under which they took personal responsibility for managing their conditions and used spirituality as a resource to make health-related decisions, cope with medication side effects and stick to their treatment regimens.

Researchers said the findings suggest that incorporating patients' religious and spiritual beliefs into hypertension treatment might improve medication adherence (HealthDay/U.S. News & World Report, 11/7).

An abstract of the study is available online.

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