Medication Literacy in a Cohort of Chinese Patients Discharged With Essential Hypertension

Background: In recent years, research on medication literacy has increased in many countries. Medication literacy in patients with essential hypertension affects the management and prognosis of hypertension. Method: This is a cross-sectional study of 147 discharged patients with essential hypertension who were treated at a tertiary hospital in Changsha, Hunan, China, between March and June 2016. The demographic and clinical data of the patients with hypertension were obtained from the medical records. The Chinese version of the Medication Literacy Questionnaire was applied to measure the medication literacy of hypertensive patients from 7 to 30 days after discharge by structured interview. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 19.0. Multiple linear regression was used to analyse the meaningful determinants of medication literacy. Results: The medication literacy of discharged patients with hypertension was poor. More than 70% of patients had no substantial knowledge of the effects and side effects of the medications they were taking, more than 30% of patients did not know the name or dose of the medication, and more than 20% of patients did not know how often to take the medication. Conclusion: It is necessary to conduct targeted health education for discharged patients with essential hypertension to reduce the risks of low medication literacy based on the determinants obtained in this study.