Elderly Black Women More Likely To Maintain Hypertension Treatment

Elderly black women who use spirituality might be more successfuladhering to a hypertension regimen, according to a study presented onWednesday 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 of16.7 years and were taking an average of 3.3 hypertension medications.According to researchers, older blacks tend to have poorer adherence tohypertension regimens than younger blacks or whites.

All 21women reported that they used a process identified as "Partnering withGod to Manage My Medications," under which they took personalresponsibility for managing their conditions and used spirituality as aresource to make health-related decisions, cope with medication sideeffects and stick to their treatment regimens.

Researcherssaid the findings suggest that incorporating patients' religious andspiritual beliefs into hypertension treatment might improve medicationadherence (HealthDay/U.S. News & World Report, 11/7).

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